No 13900, Saturday 24 Jun 2023, Bruno

ACROSS

1   Definitely grouchy when suppressing displeasure at heart (6) SURELY {SUR{d...lEa...e}LY}

4   Geometric representation of essentially tearful goodbyes when English leave? (6) RADIUS {teaRful}{ADIeUS}

8   Loud band's second rock trick (4,3) FAST ONE {F}{bAnd}{STONE}

9   California city's wet and clean? (7) LAUNDRY {LA}{UNDRY} Wet/Undry?

11 Are private exchanges compensatory? (10) REPARATIVE*

12 Wife shunned by girlfriends? That's a sign of disaster! (4) OMEN wOMEN

13 Fabric reportedly moved gently (5) SUEDE (~swayed)

14 A less unfortunate family gets luxury garment (8) SEALSKIN {A+LESS}*{KIN} 

16 Strokes extremely fine, countering pace (8) FOOTSTEP {PETS}{TOO}{F}<=

18 Use this to speak casually to Western girls - one essentially needs to be incisive (5) SLANG {G{oNe}ALS<=}

20 Animal's stomach (4) BEAR [DD]

21 Perhaps the Devil trains it slyly to control church (10) ANTICHRIST {TRAINS+IT}* over {CH}

23 Electric vehicle acquired by competitor gets improvement (7) REVIVAL {R{EV}IVAL}

24 Top team invited to Mothers' luncheon first (7) MAXIMAL {XI} in {MAMA}{Lu...n}

25 Credit displayed in scene in audition for show (6) SCREEN {CR} in {(~scene)SEEN}

26 Setter's name - one lacking character (6) METTLE {ME}{TiTLE}

DOWN

1   Guard going around edge of forest with staff (5) STAVE {S{f...sT}AVE}

2   Artist's drawing of corporate life? (3,4) RAT RACE {RA}{TRACE}

3   Shape of verse's last word - poignant, ultimately (9) LINEAMENT {LINE}{AMEN}{p...nT}

5   Sailor had to die away (5) ABATE {AB}{ATE}

6   A type of rock - one composed during soldier's return to America (7) IGNEOUS {ONE}* in {GI<=}{US}

7   Measurement of certain type of energy requires infusion of small amount of Vanadium - one gram (9) SURVEYING {SUR{Va...m}E}{YIN}{G}

10 Spooner's cranky girlfriend to breakup (9) DISSIPATE (~ pissy date to dissipate)

13 Clean and small cafeteria served decent meals regularly (9) SMOKELESS {S}{MESS} over {OK}{mEaLs}

15 Friend from a different caste? So? One should be embraced. (9) ASSOCIATE {A}{CASTE+SO}* over {1}

17 Dog from Zaire irretrievably dragged upstream (7) TERRIER [T<=]

19 Raided lair one foot below for rescue (7) AIRLIFT {LAIR*}{1}{FT}

21 Girl replaces boy in 5D for stone (5) AGATE A(-b+g)GATE

22 Tool to extract energy from waste (5) SWAGE SeWAGE

Reference List

English = E, Loud = F, Wife = W, Fine= F, Church = CH, Electric Vehicle = EV, Artist = RA, Sailor = AB, Soldier = GI, Gram = G, Small = S, Girl = G, Boy = B, Energy = E