Across:
   1. Hand meat pasty around to give comfort and understanding (3 3 8)
   9. Pass, as in 2 Down, before musical instruction (7)
  10. Settled back, having got rid of cold, and ruled again (7)
  11. The day before, the fleet turned about in no time! (5)
  12. We hear Lineker's hair loss takes the biscuit! (9)
  13. Set out on behalf of dull boy (9)
  14. Queen's favourite expressed amazement at US soldier (5)
  15. Calls about the Financial Times having weight (5)
  17. Good man dismissed after one drink? Let's have another! (4 5)
  20. Standard combination is followed closely by loud convict (5 4)
  22. The action takes place here, described in this bare narrative (5)
  23. The rain runs over one's head! (4-3)
  24. Attempts to stir with toe, totally confused! (5 2)
  25. Revolutionary saint of artists will hold clothes for you (5 2 7)
Down:
   1. Thread produced by intellectual journeymen? (5 2 7)
   2. Said at an 'old-up in 'ampshire town? (7)
   3. French refusal leads Georgie King to simple conclusion: should leave no marks (3-6)
   4. Using sliding transport to get to the junction shows cunning (7)
   5. Arthur's son protects healer with extra five hundred (7)
   6. In the ballad, Liberty is portayed in a totally spontaneous manner (2 3)
   7. The French King is after cards for the trainer (7)
   8. Bureaucrats notice subversives after cars, but not I! (14)
  14. What we have to pay, initially after running into Castro's army in Central America (5 4)
  16. Republican sporting body is not bad.... (7)
  17. ....But Tom Tula is a bit of a mixture! (7)
  18. Settled the Gild, after milling about (7)
  19. Supervise deliveries to Home Counties with energy (7)
  21. Numbers are at home in Tyneside South (5)