No 13198, Thursday 18 Mar 2021, Avtaar

Solution to 7D has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS

1   Who artfully secured retracting seat on a Jumbo (6) HOWDAH {WHO*}{HAD<=}

4   Money deposited in bank just the other day (8) RECENTLY {RE{CENT}LY}

9   Not able to talk about current moment (6) MINUTE {M{IN}UTE}

10 Immediately after touching from behind, the Reverend quietly disappeared (2,6) NO SOONER {ON<=}{SpOONER}

11 A budding star cast for live Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, maybe? (10,4) PERFORMING ARTS {PER}{FORMING}{STAR*}

13 Resistance group leader, surrounded by British police officers on the move, is surrendering reluctantly (10) DISGORGING {DI'S}{GO{R}{Gr..p}ING}

14 A short pastoral poem from New York starts to inspire daughter's youthful love (4) IDYL Acrostic 

16 Lovebird — in cryptic terms? (4) DUCK {0}

18 English politician Harry seen dancing around rear sections of aircraft (10) EMPENNAGES {E}{MP}{EN{NAG}ES*}

21 Organisation of confederates has headers in partnership pact cast in stone (6-8) COPPER FASTENED {COFEDERATES}* over {Pa...p}{Pact}

23 Sovereign government’s antique business getting popular? (4,4) GOLD COIN {G}{OLD}{CO}{IN}

24 After the last dreg of martini, this man, getting intoxicated, strips in water (6) ISTHMI {m...nI}{THIS+M}*

25 Confirm Jack is part of racket (8) NOTARISE {NO{TAR}ISE}

26 Flashy, singular, eccentric, zany, Zimbabwean leader (6) SNAZZY {S}{ZANY*}{Zi...n}

DOWN

1   Extremely horny mandarin song (4) HYMN {HornY}{Ma...iN}

2   Champs replacing defenders in the middle with good attackers on the side (7) WINGERS WIN(-n+g)GERS

3   Terrible catastrophe... food is distributed outside entrance to Gurudwara by Bill (3,2,3) ACT OF GOD {OF{Gu...a}OD*}<=>{ACT}

5   England’s still cold (11) EMOTIONLESS {E}{MOTIONLESS}

6   Quite done, at last... nothing is unfinished (6) ENOUGH {donE}{NOUGHt}

7   Teachers taking the lead, trained to become permanent (7) T?N?R?D (Addendum - TENURED {Te...s}{ENURED} - See Comments) 

8   36" vessel stocking beer... bargains are to be found here (4,5) YARD SALES {YARD}{S{ALE}S}

12 Kids stealing a cake turned out to be urchins (11) RAGAMUFFINS {RAG{A}MUFFIN}S}

13 Reader absorbing poem about Government figure (9) DODECAGON {D{ODE}{CA}{G}ON}

15 Jailed one escapes, smuggling drug without the help of an accomplice (2,6) IN PERSON {IN PRiSON} over {E}

17 Avtaar is framed in conspiracy by Commanding Officer who is a member of a flying squad (2-5) CO-PILOT {CO}{P{I}LOT}

19 Oh dear! Terrible wheezing — tip of nose bleeds (3,4) GEE WHIZ WHEEZInG*

20 Customer certificate overwhelms textile dealer (6) MERCER [T]

22 Analytics reveals receding urban agglomeration (4) CITY [T<=]

Reference List

Quietly = P, Reverend = SPOONER, Resistance = R, British Police officer = DI(Detective Inspector), English/England = E, Government = G, Popular = IN, Man = M,  Jack = TAR, Singular = S, Good = G, About = CA, Drug = E(Ecstasy)