Across:
1 Top (LEADING) American city (LA-) loses power (-DIES) (LEADING LADIES) to the women taking centre stage (LEADING LADIES),
10 State (EXPRESS) Paper? (EXPRESS),
11 Difficulty (TROUBLE) confusing (= anagram indicator) butler (butler = TR-UBLE) around Oxford (-O-) (TROUBLE),
12 Chorus (DAWN chorus) of mad women dismissing memo (‘mad women’ dismissing ‘memo’ = adwn = DAWN),
13 A (A-) large (-L-) place (-LAY) (ALLAY) similar to 23 across (‘lessen’ is similar to ALLAY),
15 Escort (escort/guide = LEAD) four characters found in 14 down from the start (four characters found in ‘LEADing’ from the start = LEAD),
17 Bottled up in feelings (bottled up in ‘fEELings’ = EEL) for swimmer (EEL),
19 Not the first (‘Not’ the first = N-) pointer (-ARROW) (NARROW) in such a tight space (NARROW),
21 Port (P-) – the fiery illegal type (-ARSON) (PARSON) produced by the minister (PARSON),
22 Protect (MIND-) flu (flu = -FUL) remedy (= anagram indicator) (MINDFUL) for Aware (aware = MINDFUL),
23 Grow a reduced amount (LESSEN) – sounds like (= homophone indicator) something heard in agricultural college? (‘lesson’ = ‘LESSEN’),
25 Transfer (= anagram indicator) debits (debits = BEDSIT) for temporary accommodation (BEDSIT),
27 One of those from The Hill (ANT) involved in vigilantism (involved in ‘ vigilANTism’ = ANT),
29 No sense in messenger (no ‘sense’ in ‘messenger’ = mger = GERM) offering the start of an idea (GERM of an idea),
30 Don leaves San Diego (‘Don’ leaves ‘San Diego’ = saieg = AEGIS) for protection (protection/support = AEGIS),
31 Hardy green (KALE) ring from King Lear (‘ring’ from ‘King Lear’ = klea = KALE),
34 Old Roman leader (TRIBUNE) from The Church (from the church/apse = TRIBUNE),
35 The Country (AMERICA) Girls – named Dawn (AM-) and Heather? (-ERICA) (AMERICA),
36 Popular (-IN-) legend (‘leG’ end = -G) follows (= position indicator) guide (LEAD-) dog – the homeless type (a stray = ASTRAY) (LEADING ASTRAY), bringing others down the wrong path (LEADING ASTRAY).
Down:
2 Give the authority to (EMPOWER) Oriental (East = E-) politician (-MP-) – the one with debts (-OWER) (EMPOWER),
3 Eat selectively (DIET) from both sides of display cabinet (both sides of ‘DIsplay cabinET’ = DIET),
4 Curl up (NESTLE) in front of (= positional indicator) the foreign (the = -LE) tree house (NEST-) (NESTLE),
5 Toxic (LETHAL) accommodation (LET-) with short (l) lobby (‘hall’ without ‘l’= -HAL) (LETHAL),
6 State of mind (mood) over (= reverse indicator) (mood = DOOM) ruin (ruin = DOOM),
7 Distinctive designs (EMBLEMS) from Ohio taken from mobile homes (‘Ohio’ taken from ‘mobile homes’ = mblemes = EMBLEMS),
8 Star of Bethlehem (LEADING LIGHT-) on top of stable (on top of ‘Stable’ = -S) (LEADING LIGHTS) for prominent individuals (LEADING LIGHTS),
9 Principal (principal/foremost = LEADING) drunk (= anagram indicator) a Whyte ({“Whyte & Mackay” whisky} = ‘a whyte’ = THE WAY) (LEADING THE WAY) and … – how is that acting like The Pioneers? (LEADING THE WAY),
14 Most important character (LEADING) on all sides today (LEADING on all sides of today’s grid),
16 Space traveller (COMET) has a heavenly body (COMET),
18 Corporate division (SALES) produces endless (end ‘lesS’ = S-) amount of drinks (-ALES) (SALES),
20 Throw into bottle (‘throW INto’ bottle = WIN) or pot? (WIN),
21 Where you might find porters (PUB) plausibly missing? I’ll say! (‘plausibly’ missing ‘I’ll say’ = pub = PUB),
24 Depressed (sad = SA-D-) about Queen (Regina = -R-) up (= reverse indicator) north (NI = -IN-) with One Direction (East = -E) (SARDINE) packed in, like, for one? (“packed in like sardines” / for one = SARDINE),
26 Endurance (STAMINA) to pick-up (= reverse indicator) beastly type (animal) briefly (l) (‘animal’ without ‘l’ = anima = -AMINA) for Eliot (TS Eliot = TS = ST-) (STAMINA),
27 Strip off greasepaint (‘strip’ off ‘greasepaint’ = geaean = AEGEAN) in the Mediterranean (AEGEAN),
28 Last of the cumin (last of the ‘cumiN’ = -N-) in raita (raita) mixture (= anagram indicator) (raita = TIRA-A) (TIRANA) from European capital (TIRANA),
32 One of those types with cauliflower head (CURD) in Asian (Kurd) state (= homophone indicator) (‘Kurd’ = ‘CURD’),
33 Bobby’s route (policeman’s BEAT) to Knock (knock/hit = BEAT).