Across
Previously ending in disaster, a foreign market here? (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
AGO [previously] + [disaste]R + A: this is the definition I’m familiar with – the ancient Greek market place – but I met it in a Neo crossword the other day as an Israeli monetary unit, so I’ve filed that away 10 FÊTE : FEE [charge] around T[ime] 11 BABYLONIAN : BABY [little] + NI [National Insurance] in LOAN [advance] 12 TROWEL : R[iver] in TOWEL [drier] 14 ROMANIAN : RAN [controlled] around [borders] OMANI [Asian] 20 AIRBORNE : AIR [strain – a song] + R [solveR’s end] in BONE [something to contend with – ‘a bone of contention’]: the definition is ‘up’ 22 LINNET : L [50] IN [the] NET 23 ALTERNATED : A + TERN [bird] in [cutting] LATE [dead] + D[uck] 24,21 LONG ISLAND : anagram [ground] of LOSING + LAND [gain] 25,22 NAKED LADIES : anagram [hybrid] of AND LAKESIDE: a typical Paul answer but this time just the name of a flower [so-called because it blooms without leaves]: it has various other names but I think here it’s the Autumn crocus. I’ll leave you to google your own link!
Party time, charge around (4)
Little national insurance in advance, as ancient (10)
River filling drier gardening tool (6)
Asian controlled borders for European (8)
See 3
See 2
Strain something to contend with, keeping solver's end up (8)
Bird's fifty goals scored? (6)
A bird cutting dead duck's head went this way, then that? (10)
21d
Queens here losing ground before gain (4,6)
22d
Hybrid and lakeside plant (5,6)
See 6
Down
Spectacular ego, heart lost in the system (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
E[g]O in METRIC [system] 2,17 TUBE STATION : BEST [most efficient] + AT in [breaking] an anagram [depravity?] of OUT IN 3,15 GLOBAL ECONOMY : GLOOMY [pessimistic] around [about] BALE [to package] + CON[servative] [Cameron’s party]: definition: ‘worryingly precarious thing’: a beautifully constructed [&lit?] clue which raised a wry smile, which might have been a laugh out loud if it weren’t so horribly topical 4,19 ICEBERG LETTUCE : cryptic definition 5 TABLE MAT : reversal [turning up] of MELBA [Dame Nellie, ‘sweet singer’] in [to plug] TAT [rubbish]: I’m not keen on the definition: ‘this is flat’ 6,26 MORNINGTON CRESCENT : anagram [fixed, i.e ‘rigged’] of TERMS NOT CONCERNING – and it’s a TUBE STATION 7,8 BANANA REPUBLIC : anagram [unstable] of INCAPABLE and URBAN: I spent too long trying to make an anagram first of STATE INCAPABLE then REQUIRING URBAN 13 WINDBREAKS : WINKS [bats] around [nipping] anagram [unruly] of BEARD: I think ‘bat’ really needs ‘an eye[lid]’ to equate to ‘wink’ but I liked the clue. 16 MARINADE : MARE [horse] round [on the outside] I[ncline] N[early] A[lways] D[ownhill] [first letters – ‘for starters’]; the definition is ‘steep’, so this is another nice ‘lift and separate’ clue, like 24,21 [‘losing ground’] 18 ONE-ON-ONE : O [oxygen] + NEON [another gas] + O [oxygen] + N [nitrogen – another gas] + E[nergy] 24 LICK : double definition
17a
Bank, say, most efficient at breaking out in depravity (4,7)
15a
Worryingly precarious thing to package — Cameron's party pessimistic about it (6,7)
19d
Leaves cold? (7,7)
Sweet singer turning up to plug rubbish — this is flat (5,3)
26a
Fixed terms not concerning this 2 17 (10,8)
Unstable state incapable, requiring urban development (6,8)
Those providing shelter from bats nipping unruly beard (10)
Steep incline, nearly always downhill for starters, horse on the outside (8)
Oxygen and another gas, oxygen and another gas, energy individually matched (3-2-3)
See 4
See 24 across
See 25
Lap speed (4)
Type letters or click words in the clue