No 11572, Friday 11 Dec 2015, Neyartha

Don't we need at least 6 words to qualify for a themed CW?

ACROSS
1   Cheese dish arbiter shrewdly prepared is not dry (5,7) WELSH RAREBIT {ARBITER+SHrEWdLy}*

8   Place to find a number of keys? (7) FLORIDA [GK]

9   Indian beach with a fancy dock (6) MARINA [DD]
11 Group exerting pressure on politicians? (9) LOBBYISTS [CD]
12 Company to get rid of the gold whales and the South American shrubs (5) COCAS {(-or+co)COCAS}
14 Seize books included in the crumpled receipt (9) INTERCEPT {NT} in {RECEIPT}*
16 Overheard spy in the docking station (4) PIER (~peer)
18 Article grappled by Mexican cat breed (4) MANX {M{AN}X}

19 Boy upset by a man from Mars leaves castle with a large dog (9) DALMATIAN {DAL<=}{MArTIAN}

21 Bernie celebrates to some extent with a relative (5) NIECE [T]
22 International upsets widower seizing evacuated land (9) WORLDWIDE {WIDOWER+LanD}*
23 Slogan's a sacred chant (6) MANTRA [DD]
25 Gamble by the Wisconsin ex-model in the interval (7) BETWIXT {BET}{WI}{X}{T}
26 Emotional state, not easy to mould? (4,8) HARD FEELINGS [CD]

DOWN
2   Outrageousness resulting from harmful exacerbation after article loss (11) EXORBITANCE EXaCERBATION*
3   Trendy to board low horse carts going north to the place where boats are built (8) SHIPYARD {HIP} in {DRAYS<=}
4   Reportedly drove to alter dates at a partly sheltered anchorage (9) ROADSTEAD (~rode){ROAD}{DATES*}

5   Old verses provided by the model making way for the mass ceremonies (5) RIMES RI(-t+m)MES
6   British officers reheating some cold halibut initially with beet soup (6) BORSCH Acrostic

7   Insane person turning up for a large cask (3) TUN <=
8   Graceful student moving down to capture a video gets success (10) FULFILMENT {FILM} in {F(-l)U(+l)LENT}
10 Acerbic German ignored spy wrapping the cord (10) ASTRINGENT {STRING} in {AgENT}
13 Disapproving of the analyst sign I modified (11) CRITICISING {CRITIC}{SIGN+I}*
15 Fair to uncover bundle sent up by the French (9) TOLERABLE {TOL}{ERAB}<={LE}
17 Tape with an Italian note for the marauders (8) BANDITTI {BAND}{IT}{TI}
20 Inflamed sore in the giraffe's terrible (6) FESTER [T]
22 Leaders of the West hurry and return from the dock (5) WHARF Acrostic
24 Cashier concealing burnt remains (3) ASH [T]

GRID