ACROSS

 1  Hill Billies ? (8, 5)

10  How things are usually sliced? (7)

11  Number that is left? (7)

12  He ends up a sort of clerk. (7)

13  Stories never ended on such nights. (7)

14  What makes the sisters so disturbed? (7)

15  Hard sort of a tree to find us in. (7)

16  Concentrates. ( 7 )

20  Pointed saw. (7)

23  Call back before you’ve dined. (7)

24  Enters and listens. (7)

25  How to make a couple of bucks. (7)

26  How paper might be bought? (7)

27  ——– with cursory. (7, 6)

DOWN

 2  Proffered actions. (7)

 3  Minus? (7)

 4  Like kinds beget this. (7)

 5  Ivan ran into it. (7)

 6  Alternate business affairs. (7)

 7  It makes sense to have Tabby climb over a slab. (7)

 8  Oyster? ( 6 , 2, 5)

 9  Mistaken kisses ? (13)

17  Kitty over the water, over the water. (7)

18  Busts out of a U. S. state. (7)

19  House kind is not loud. (7)

20  The first statesman? (7)

21  A disgraceful state to be in. (7)

22  Relations in Gaelic, responsible for many novel things. (7)