Across:
8 Praetorian guard takes off, departing ('praetorian guard' takes off 'departing' = orauar = AURORA) for light show (AURORA),
9 Jockey (STRUGGLE) upsets (= reverse indicator) the foreign (‘the’ foreign/Spanish = el = -LE) horse (-GG-) from America (US = S-U-) jumping over top of rails (top of ‘Rails’ = -R-) for leading trainer (leading ‘Trainer’ = -T) (STRUGGLE),
10 Get one’s hands on (FIND) bank’s final dividend (banks ‘FInal divideND’ = FIND),
11 Openers (CORKSCREW) for county’s (Cork’s = CORKS-) team (-CREW-) hitting first sixes (first ‘Sixes’ = -S) (CORKSCREWS),
12 Items (items) spread (= anagram indicator) (items = ST-MIE) around yellow primarily (‘Yellow’ ‘primarily’ = -Y-) (STYMIE) in snooker (snooker/obstruct = STYMIE),
14 Member of the Resistance (resister) vocal (= homophone indicator) (‘resister’ = ‘RESISTOR’) on the circuit (RESISTOR / device with resistance to electric current),
15 Decipher difficulty in understanding (FIND IT HARD GOING) tips for insider trading (tips for ‘Insider Trading’ = IT) following (= position indicator) 10 across (‘find’ = FIND) and 24 across (‘hard’ = HARD) on the way out (GOING) (FIND IT HARD GOING),
18 Wedges (wedges/slices = PORTIONS) offered by the chipper? (PORTIONS),
20 There’s no acai in Saint Lucia (there’s no ‘acai’ in ‘Saint Lucia’ = sintlu = INSULT) to put down locally? (put down = INSULT),
22 Bosses (MANAGEMENT) run (MANAGE-) from workers (-MEN-) starting trouble (starting ‘Trouble’ = -T) (MANAGEMENT),
24 Difficult (HARD) for daughters to exclude guest (‘daughters’ to exclude ‘guest’ = dahr = HARD),
25 Every second angel cake (every second letter of ‘aNgEl CaKe’ = NECK-) with Chantilly (Chantilly -LACE) (NECKLACE) produced by Lei – the one synonymous with head turner? (NECKLACE - a lei/garland of flowers around the neck),
26 Is (-IS-) at the centre of denials (noes = NO-ES) (NOISES) of annoying sounds (NOISES).
Down:
1 Pressure (P-) on legal scholar (jurist) losing the head (j) ('jurist' without 'j' = -URIST) (PURIST) with an uncompromising stickler for perfection (PURIST),
2 Is lacking compassion (COLD) over (= reverse indicator) those in deadlock (those in ‘deaDLOCk’ = dloc = COLD),
3 Inexperienced type (raw) recalls (= reverse indicator) (raw = WAR -) going bust (bust/bosom = - CHEST) (WAR CHEST) producing funds for campaign (WAR CHEST),
4 Bit of uplifting (= reverse indicator) pure substance (bit of uplifting ‘puRE SUbstance’ = resu = USER) produced by consumer (USER),
5 Conservative (C-) teacher (Sir) retires (= reversal indicator) (Sir = -RIS-) from institute (-I-) and school (-S) (CRISIS) in The Emergency (CRISIS),
6 They’re very forceful leading the charge (AGGRESSORS) to chop up (= anagram indicator) gorse, grass (gorse grass = AGGRESSORS),
7 Not so fast (SLOWDOWN) – skinhead (‘Skin’ head = S-) has the inside story (lowdown = -LOWDOWN)? (SLOWDOWN),
13 Brought out an album (MADE TRACKS) and hit the road (MADE TRACKS),
14 Laughs heartily (ROARS), as aggressor drops eggs (‘aggressor’ drops ‘eggs’ = arsor = ROARS),
16 It’s hard to find (ISOLATED) one (I-) local criticised harshly (local ‘criticised harshly’ = slated = -S-LATED) over nothing (-O-) (ISOLATED),
17 Aimlessly wandering (DRIFTING) in Dublin (D-), Split (-RIFT-) and Ring (Ring) without an introduction (r) (‘ring’ without ‘r’ = -ING) (DRIFTING),
19 Writing (from the 3Rs = -R-) in Aesop (Aesop) adaptation (= anagram indicator) (Aesop = OPE-AS) (OPERAS) works on the stage (OPERAS),
21 More stout (LARGER) for redhead (‘Red’ head = -R-) consumed by drink (LA-GER) (LARGER),
23 Watched like a hawk (EYED) or a freshwater fish (ide), in a manner of speaking (= homophone indicator) (‘ide’ = ‘EYED’),
24 Fairly (half of) hard (half of ‘HArd’ = HA-) to associate with the Italian (-IL) (HAIL) salute (HAIL).