Quick crossword

No 16,496

Across

1 Slanted (4-5)

8 Soothsayer (4)

9 In confidence (9)

10 Make up a (political?) story (4)

13 Intense (5)

15 Derivation (6)

16 Coup d’état (6)

17 Severe reprimand (6)

19 City on Lac Léman, headquarters of the Red Cross (6)

20 Weapon with a blade (5)

21 Walk out (4)

24 Post receptacle (9)

25 Leave the stage (4)

26 Bootlicker (9)

Down

2 Stone between pavement and road (4)

3 Hand signal (4)

4 It secures a woman’s headgear (6)

5 Shot in the arm (6)

6 One dealing with boring paperwork (3-6)

7 Affecting the windpipe (9)

11 Familiar moniker – quiet orbs (anag) (9)

12 Mark over, under or through a letter (9)

13 Emotional feelings experienced instinctively (5)

14 Fooled (5)

18 Like well-off people in the countryside with an interest in horses, dogs etc? (6)

19 Got rot (anag) (6)

22 Patronising – impish (4)

23 Natural satellite of a planet (4)