No.10643, Thursday 13 Dec 12, Neyartha

Once again an excellent puzzle from Neyartha even if his substitution clues aren't woven tightly. I thought he was after inert gases, but a couple of others were present too.

Note: Starred clues have no direct definition, but share some property in common

ACROSS
1 Kind of rubber prepared by Oriental with raw material for chips initially (8) SILICONE (SILICON + E)
5 Pull and grasp raincoat’s contents (6) SPRAIN (T)
9* Democrat leader’s new toothpaste ingredient (8) FLUORINE (FLUORId(+N)E)
10* Husband and priest meet the westbound Greek character (6) HELIUM (H + ELI + MU<=)
11 Working outside in the peak summer days may lead to this (4,10) HEAT, EXHAUSTION (CD)
14 Sounds like the fraudulent manipulator will get an American trial (5) RIGOR (~ RIGGER)
16 Ore crusher kept inactive and covered in the morning and afternoon (5,4) STAMP, MILL (STILL outside AM/PM)

17 Cleaning agent’s work in retreat area cut short by some melodramatic fare (4,5) SOAP, OPERA (SOAP + OP + AREa<=)
19 *Deck’s king misplaced (5) RADON (ADORN with R moving to the front)
20 Venerable public servant deletes mantras by mistake (5,9) ELDER, STATESMAN (DELETES MANTRAS)*
23 Winter crop from the east includes note about a meteorological line (6) ISOBAR (RABI<= outside SO)
24 *Go around to get admitted by the awkward intern (8) NITROGEN (GO<= inside INTERN*)
25 Torment, a result of being culturally affected in Mauritania (6) MARTYR (ARTY inside MR)
26 It was a nightmarish tenure in Ohio when looking back to this matter (8) HEREUNTO (TENURE* inside OH<=)

DOWN
1 Strain to study (4) SIFT (DD)
2 Student gets rid of the male rodent and the insect (5) LOUSE ((+L)mOUSE)
3 Copper and critic in conversation with a museum employee (7) CURATOR (CU + ~RATER)
4 Imagined a noble gas rising up in an Iceland camp (3-8) NON-EXISTENT (XENON<= + IS + TENT)
6 Israel censored the upset suppliers’ gymnastic exercise (5-2) PRESS-UP (SUPPliERS)*
7 Alternative caddie I employed in the event of being made sour (9) ACIDIFIED (CADDIE I* outside IF)
8 New Zealand’s status before 1250 AD? (2,4,4) NO, MAN'S, LAND (CD)
12 Daring Thane airman became immortal (11) AMARANTHINE (THANE AIRMAN)*
13 Miners’ coup depicted in the forestage (10) PROSCENIUM (MINERS COUP)*
15 A big sightseeing trip where we ignored the groundwater treated by … (5,4) GRAND, TOUR (GROUNDwATeR)*
18… Mary for the Roman Catholics? (3,4) OUR, LADY (CD)

19 Delay in supply (7) RESERVE (DD)
21* Start off with buzz words (5) ARGON (jARGON)
22 Privy to some letters from Edmonton (4) ONTO (T)

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