No 12117, Wednesday 20 Sep 2017, Gridman

ACROSS
1   Take in a drop of sherry and luxuriate (7) SWALLOW {Sh...y}{WALLOW}
5   Strut about, say, having taken care of deposit (6) SASHAY {S{ASH}AY}
9   Private lodging provided with a little hesitation (5) INNER {INN}{ER}
10 Off-the-cuff admission by early arrival to union leader (9) IMPROMPTU {I'M PROMPT}{Un..n}
11 Free from distress fifty-one held by bailiff (7) RELIEVE {RE{LI}EVE}
12 Competitor who is out-of-place in a race (4-3) ALSO-RAN [CD]
13 Fidgety Verne loses a bit of energy; yet at end of day is bold (5) NERVY {VERNe}*{daY}
14 Amaze Chinese military group with new building schematic (5,4) FLOOR PLAN {FLOOR} {PLA}{N}
16 Teacher's highly valued, they say. Left awestruck (9) SURPRISED (~ sir prized)
19 Publicity head's work on show – a kind of online ad (3-2) POP-UP {Pu...y}{OP}-{UP}
21 Name in French what goes on the book cover (7) ENTITLE {EN}{TITLE}
23 You said to be in credit getting debt notices! Odd! (7) CURIOUS {C{U}R}{IOUS}
24 Cheat to try endlessly a lot of variation in voice (9) CONTRALTO {CON}{TRy}{A+LOT}*
25 One has to be elsewhere for this defence (5) ALIBI [CD]
26 Military station detains second oppressor (6) DESPOT {DE{S}POT}
27 Learn variously by holding books in light (7) LANTERN {LEARN}* over {NT}

DOWN
1   Would any mixup result from this rousing talk? (8,6) STIRRING SPEECH [CD]
2   Cancel central part shaped like a ring (7) ANNULAR {ANNUL}{pARt}
3   Gallery's refurbished for the most part (7) LARGELY*
4   Complete failures heard immediately by son (5-4) WRITE-OFFS (~ right off){WRITE OFF}{S}
5   Colour of paise minted afresh (5) SEPIA*
6  Trail taking Poles to financial backer (7) SPONSOR {SPO{N}{S}OR}
7   Clothes appear crumpled on many (7) APPAREL {APPEAR*}{L}
8   Unsparing, big (no good), son displaying the zeal of an arsonist (7,7) BURNING PASSION {UNSPARING+BIg+SON}*
15 Conventional way of thinking from what brings alumni together (3,6) OLD SCHOOL [C&DD]
17 Regret is about the withdrawal of said night train (7) RETINUE (~night){NITE<=} in {RUE}
18 Artist's sober criticism of device to catch pest (3,4) RAT TRAP {RA}{T T}{RAP}
19 Have relevance to bold article about India (7) PERTAIN {PERT}{A{I}N}
20 Supporting document gives view from the side (7) PROFILE {PRO}{FILE}
22 Extremely nice talc drawing acclamation (5) ECLAT {nicE}{TALC*}

GRID