No 9672, Tuesday, 27 Oct 09, Sankalak

Almost 50% of CD, DD & E's, not to my liking
ACROSS
1 - Crazy charterer makes a study of business prospects (6,8) - MARKET RESEARCH*
8 - Succession of notes, a gift returned, in my keeping (6) - M{ELOD<-}Y
9 - Source of vitamin A, a walker’s aid involving mechanical use of memory (8) - CA{ROTE}NE
11 - Where an eyewitness should have been (2,3,4) - ON THE SPOT [CD]
12 - Slow in movement in a Bastar dyeing unit (5) - TARDY [T]
13 - Say, the girl’s clothing is covered with hair! (7) - (~her){HIR}{SUTE}{~suit)
15 - The loan, rewritten, may go to one’s head (7) - ETHANOL*
17 - Copper — deserter or keeper? (7) - {CU}{RAT}{OR}
19 - Being thus could have been deadly for Arjuna, having no goal! (7) - AIMLESS [DD]
21 - Quantitative relation revealed when head office deserted Nelson (5) - (-ho)RATIO
23 - It provides cover for a lady in retirement (9) - NIGHTGOWN [E]
25 - Expelled from college, dons went wild (4,4) - SENT DOWN*
26 - It helps keep the craft on course (6) - RUDDER [E]
27 - Comedy stars who were together through ‘thick and thin’? (6,3,5) - LAUREL AND HARDY [CD]
DOWN
1 - Insect straddling a small length becomes very, very large (7) - M{A}{MM}OTH
2 - Ignited afresh (5) - RELIT [E]
3 - The final outcome could make the eldest run berserk (3,6) - END RESULT*
4 - Cause a fright, beginning with the French (7) - {START}{LE}
5 - Miscarry (5) - ABORT [E]
6 - The kind of sale for getting rid of mounting inventory (9) - CLEARANCE [E]
7 - Stevenson hero, the better half? (6) - JEKYLL [E]
10 - It is part of a church, in it a chap sees the light (4) - APSE [T]
14 - A Turin aria composed for an imaginary kingdom (9) - RURITANIA*
16 - Unpleasant fact but not really confined to the residence (4,5) - HOME TRUTH [CD]
17 - Gesture of respect becomes rudely brief with extremes of snobbery (6) - {CURT}{SY}
18 - The way to keep membership going periodically (7) - RENEWAL [CD]
19 - Seaweed, perhaps (4) - ALGA [E]
20 - Bridge partners, two unknowns, involved with work unit, getting the benefit of combined action (7) - SYN{ERG}Y
22 - More rum, stranger? (5) - ODDER [CD]
24 - Command a group of people who have been rewarded for their contribution (5) - ORDER [DD]

GRID