Across
1
Remove everything surplus to prepare for action (5,3,5)
10
Twiddled one's thumbs (5)
12
Humbly ask for a favour (2,3,2,4)
17
Relating to, or associated with, heat (7)
19
Robert ----- Marley: Jamaican singer-songwriter (5)
21
Outstanding: displaying great dignity (5)
23
Manufacturing production apparatuses (8,5)
Down
3
Welsh valley whose coal 'fuelled the Royal Navy' (7)
4
People will be sacked or disgraced (5,4,4)
6
21st century UK Prime Minister (7)
7
Distinctive watchword or motto (6)
13
Demanding; burdensome (7)
14
Person, animal or task that is difficult to manage (7)
16
Thorny desert plant (6)
18
Device that connects computers by a phone line (5)
20
Back of a marine vessel (5)