No 2835, Sunday 05 Apr 2015

Today is a toughie by normal Everyman standards.

ACROSS
1   Film a vessel on a river (6) AVATAR {A}{VAT}{A}{R}
4   English writer, Eliot, is wandering around lake (8) SILLITOE {SIL{L}ITOE*}
10 In lodgings, one battering burgers (7-8) QUARTER-POUNDERS {QUARTER-{POUNDER}S}

11 Exhausted, among a group marooned (9) ABANDONED {A}{BAN{DONE}D}
12 Enough taste without pinch of salt (5) AMPLE sAMPLE
13 Striking number heading chart (7) NOTABLE {NO}{TABLE}
15 Stop working in retreat (6) RETIRE [DD]
17 Husband leaving nurse in leafy glade (6) ARBOUR hARBOUR
19 Miser, for example, returned, after wages, we hear (7) SCROOGE (~screw){SCROO}{GE<=}
21 Independent broadsheet in New York, particularly good (5) NIFTY {N{I}{FT}Y}
22 Almost read fire-raiser's game (4,5) STUD POKER {STUDy} {POKER}
24 Plain glass in wagon (7,8) PRAIREE SCHOONER {PRAIREE} {SCHOONER}

25 Sling a monitor inside school (8) CATAPULT {C{A}{TAP}ULT}
26 Scandalmonger, first to get very large drink (6) GOSSIP {Get}{OS}{SIP}

DOWN
1   Inform aircraftman, strikingly old-fashioned (8) ACQUAINT {AC}{QUAINT}
2   Raging at fame, or fat cats, in reality (2,1,6,2,4) AS A MATTER OF FACT*
3   Appeared in play - lengthy? Not half! (5) ACTED protrACTED
5   Home Rule appropriate? (2,5) IN ORDER {IN} {ORDER}
6   House in county town (9) LANCASTER [DD]
7   Right, soft-spoken eccentric, racing (3,5,2,5) THE SPORT OF KINGS*
8   Trees cut across area used for festival (6) EASTER {E{A}STER*}
9   Bang bell cast in iron (6) FRINGE {F{RING}E}
14 Blunder by individual turning up hidden bomb, perhaps (5,4) BOOBY TRAP {BOOB}{Y TRAP<=}
16 Sweet pendant (4,4) TEAR DROP [DD]
18 Brief plan to promote actress (Rosalind or Jane) (7) RUSSELL {RUSe}{SELL}
19 Reportedly dressing well (6) SOURCE (~sauce)
20 Manipulated SP, once, as a gamble (2,4) ON SPEC*
23 Snap in suntrap - hot, obviously (5) PHOTO [T]

GRID