g g 1.  2.  3.  4.  5.   g
6. g   g   g   g   g   g g
7.      g 8.      9.
  g   g   g   g   g   g  
10.         g 11.    
  g g g   g   g 12. g   g  
13.  14.     g 15.      
  g   g   g 16. g   g g g  
17.     g 18.     19.   
  g   g 20. g   g   g   g  
21.        g 22.     
g g   g   g   g   g   g  
g 23.           g g

ACROSS

1. North leading light suits, winning eight hearts and causing split. (10)

7. Restrict right to lie in tent. (5)

8. A hell of a thing - no finer product! (7)

10. In between one, or that which is within. (8)

11. Desert and become bisexual. (4)

13. Popularised Aesop: xenophobia or return of investigative journalism? (6)

15. Restrict earlier fifty by five points. (6)

17. Raced to bible class. (4)

18. Sell each about two times, creating long-running dispute. (8)

21. Putting back some soft serge lining helps trousers return to horizontal. (3,4)

22. Go for the French greeting? (5)

23. South lands a ninth trick, and rightly concedes two in coming ace leads. (10)

DOWN

1. Sow's piglets like all nine teats initially. (5)

2. Affliction of people's tail, then head, with pink complexion. (8)

3. Shown either as skipping backward or beasts. (6)

4. If America comes back for a Muslim. (4)

5. Restricts slightly modified gourds. (7)

6. West, European (note: out of scale perhaps), has nothing to replace ace lead. (10)

9. East joins with a ten lead ... education having a bearing! (10)

12. Spilt wine held capital. (3,5)

14. Model pagan, or anarchist? (7)

16. On food parcel, tick extraction / ethnicity. (6)

19. Dementia rates reduced with special headwear. (5)

20. Be getting thanks for second prize. (4)