Solutions to THC # 8904

Across

1 Fruit found rotting in a Roman garden (8,6) MANDARIN ORANGE

8 Rogue, half German, is one who begs (6) CADGER

9 Respected English journalist covers return encounters (8) ESTEEMED

11 The German lookalike's gun (9) DERRINGER

12 Bones found in a dismantled sitar (5) TARSI

13 The wine that alarms a sufferer (7) MARSALA

15 African capital, scene of famous rescue operation in 1976 (7) ENTEBBE

17 Accountants settled down with an ice cream (7) CASSATA

19 Kind of bean split in a chariot (7) HARICOT

21 Woman's shawl worn by some Pacific hunters (5) FICHU

23 He puts money in the bank (9) DEPOSITOR

25 What a successful book may run into, to the delight of the author (8) EDITIONS

26 Small duration of time, very small (6) MINUTE

27 An engine, ill-built, defective, could be Greek (14) UNINTELLIGIBLE

Down

1 Scottish son of the first man was the inventor of a road surface (7) MACADAM

2 The lowest point in a defective drain (5) NADIR

3 Baseball, apple pie, Superman etc. captured in a camera, rolling (9) AMERICANA

4 Watch the old boy fill the bill (7) OBSERVE

5 Turn away from a salutation? Right (5) AVERT

6 Stick with the Sudanese, say, in charge of exudate used in making asafoetida etc. (3,6) GUM ARABIC

7 Counsel for a daughter on immoral action (6) ADVICE

10 A Greek article in a historic Indian town (4) AGRA

14 Surgical procedure, a No.1 secret, is spelt out (9) RESECTION

16 The object includes reckless physical assault (9) THRASHING

17 Chest of the hacker, say (6) COFFER

18 Slow bit of music, neat and new (7) ANDANTE

19 That chap accepts work in anticipation (4) HOPE

20 Worldly Frenchman pursues half-sister (7) TERRENE

22 News agency working on alliance (5) UNION

24 Ekalavya's guru dakshina (5) THUMB