Across:
8 Absent (-A-) women (-W-) in Lima (lima) working (= anagram indicator) (lima = MAL-I) (MALAWI) with Zambian neighbour (MALAWI),
9 Persuade (CONVINCE) Claire (-CE) to finish (= position indicator) deception (CON-) with French wine (French ‘wine’ = -VIN-) (CONVINCE),
10 Covered up (= reverse indicator) by Generalissimo or that (covered up by ‘generalissiMO OR that’ = moor = ROOM) one in The House (ROOM),
11 Bash (KNOCK-) opening an (opening ‘An’ = -A-) event in Ring (-BOUT) (KNOCKABOUT) with rough slapstick comedy (KNOCKABOUT),
12 Soundbite dismisses Ben (‘soundbite’ dismisses ‘Ben’ = soudit = STUDIO) in the drawing room (STUDIO),
14 Scoundrel (CAD-) is in a bad way (-ILL-) with current (-AC current) (CADILLAC) car (CADILLAC),
15 The type of tablets that were once crushed (Moses crushed/smashed the first stones of the TEN COMMANDMENTS) for prescriptions devised by the man upstairs (TEN COMMANDMENTS),
18 It’s what a classy type is expected to do (REVISION) right (R-) at engineering (-E-) faculty (-VISION) (REVISION),
20 Ain’t leaving great-niece (‘aint’ leaving ‘great-niece’ = Greece = GREECE) in the union (GREECE is in the European Union),
22 The proceeds of risible bread-maker? (FUNNY MONEY) Anyone rolling out their own dough will get this! (FUNNY MONEY),
24 Well, it’s not (SICK) distasteful in a manner of speaking (SICK comment),
25 Irate (irate = TEAR I-), sick (= anagram indicator), falling over (= reverse indicator), laid out (put = -T UP) (TEAR IT UP) – RIP (rip = TEAR IT UP),
26 Occupied (AMUSED) by a (A-) thought (-MUSED) (AMUSED).
Down:
1 Frenchman (Monsieur = M-) gets to pull a face (pout = -P OUT) after (= position indicator) a (-A-) (MAP OUT) sketch (MAP OUT),
2 Take some pharmacological Mickey Finn (take some ‘pharmacologiCAL Mickey finn’ = CALM) and relax (CALM),
3 An unhealthy place (SICKROOM) for 24 across (‘sick’ = SICK-) and 10 across (‘room’ = -ROOM) (SICKROOM),
4 Repeat (ECHO) insult coming from touchlines (‘insult’ coming from ‘touchlines’= oche = ECHO),
5 Twisted and turned (SNAKED) system, opened (‘System’ opened = S-) and stripped down (stripped down = -NAKED) (SNAKED),
6 Accept it, as True (accept it as true = -BELIEVE) Detectives (detectives = DIs = DIS-) opens (= position indicator) (DISBELIEVE) with suspect (suspect/doubt = DISBELIEVE),
7 Cut short (y) takeover (‘occupy’ without ‘y’ = OCCUP-), as can’t (cant) ignore head (c) (‘cant’ without ‘c’ = -ANT) (OCCUPANT) resident (OCCUPANT),
13 See sense here (DICTIONARY) in the definitive volume (DICTIONARY),
14 Is that an ongoing reaction (CHAIN reaction) in Red (= anagram indicator) China? (China = CHAIN),
16 Carried through (EXECUTED) and made a killing (EXECUTED),
17 Child’s pet name (DOGGY) for the chips (BAG of chips) (DOGGY BAG) – of course, it’s essential for any takeaway (DOGGY BAG),
19 Meat in (meat in) stew (= anagram indicator) (meat in = INMATE) could be from an American can (jail) locally? (from US ‘can’ / jail = INMATE),
21 Did a turn (CYCLED) with series (CYCLE-) director (-D) (CYCLED),
23 Sample of banana pancakes (Sample of ‘banaNA PAncakes = NAPA) from the vintner’s valley (NAPA valley),
24 Pittance (SOU-) for initial preferential (initial ‘Preferential’ = -P) (SOUP) stock offering? (SOUP).