The Hindu Crossword No. 2588 Solutions

Across
1 Short fellow, very large, causes utter confusion (5) CHAOS (fellow=CHAP=>short fellow=CHAP-P=CHA, ver large=OS => CHA+OS)
4 Mountain range party — some lit flares (9) DOLOMITES (ana. DO(party)+SOME+LIT)
9 Snub judge (3,4) SET DOWN (Double Defn. - according to thesaurus.com, to set down is to consider or to judge)
10 Kelly's is a religious book? (7) GENESIS (??)
11 Angry before last dance (5,6) BLACK BOTTOM (Angry=BLACK, last=BOTTOM)
14 What may be the later consequences of mowing at the farm? (9) AFTERMATH (ana. AT+THE+FARM)
16 Info brought back about one horse producing whinny (5) NEIGH (Info=GEN=>Info brought back=NEG, one=I, horse=H=>Info brought back about one horse =NE(I)GH)
17 Twister about to overcharge (5) CROOK (about=C, overcharge=ROOK => C+ROOK)
18 Astaire, say, first to do part with cane, possibly (3-6) TAP-DANCER (ana. D(first to do)+PART+CANE; In my opinion, 'first to do' is a poor way of indicating the 1st letter of 'do'. It's grammatically incorrect, and against Ximenian rules of fair-clueing. Ideally, it should be 'first of do', but of course that would render the sentence meaningless)
19 Naval officer, triggering raider alarm at sea (4,7) REAR ADMIRAL (ana. RAIDER+ALARM)
23 Mother worried about parking in market town (7) MORPETH (ana. MOTHER+P(parking))
24 First to moan when girl produces cosmetic (7) MASCARA (First to moan=M, when=AS, girl=CARA => MASCARA; refer to my comments on 18 ac)
25 It affords protection for those in difficulty in English river swirling fast around (6,3) SAFETY NET
26 Saltpetre some alert inspector rejected (5) NITRE (Reverse Container => alERT+INspector; rejected=reversal indicator??)

Down
1 House on one of the Costas or here in Morocco (10) CASABLANCA (House=CASA(in spanish/latin), one of the Costas=BLANCA (???Costa Blanca is a place in Spain) => CASA+BLANCA (a city in Morocco)...thanks to Chaturvasi for the answer)
2 Interest in draw (10) ATTRACTION (Double Defn.)
3 Agent wearing standard clobber for wealthy area (11,4) STOCKBROKER BELT (agent=BROKER, standard=STOCK,clobber=BELT=>Agent wearing standard clobber = STOCK+BROKER BELT)
4 Wild dog making loud noise on drive (5) DINGO (loud noise=DIN, drive=GO => DIN+GO)
5 Navigational aid in vessel of limited tonnage? (9) LIGHTSHIP (vessel=SHIP=>vessel of limited tonnage=LIGHT SHIP)
6 Maker of tombstones — huge fellow dressing well (10,5) MONUMENTAL MASON (huge=MONUMENTAL, fellow=MAN, well=SO=>huge fellow dressing well=MA(SO)N)
7 Perched up on top of keep pointing to difficult job (4) TASK (perched=SAT=>perched up=TAS, top of keep=K=>Perched up on top of keep = TAS+K)
8 Frame made from piece of strengthened wood (4) SASH (Double Defn.)
12 At variance with candid sort abroad (10) DISCORDANT (ana. CANDID+SORT)
13 What a sailor may have on dry land? (5,5) SHORE LEAVE (Cryptic Defn.)
15 Prince after a short belt that's made out of fur (9) ASTRAKHAN (Prince=KHAN, a=A, belt=STRAP=>short belt=STRA=>Prince after a short belt=A+STRA+KHAN)
20 Awfully mad Italian let in (5) ADMIT (awfully mad=ana. MAD=ADM, Italian=IT => ADM+IT)
21 Prophet from Aegean island? Not initially (4) AMOS (Aegean island=SAMOS=>Aegean island? Not initially = SAMOS-S)
22 Quantity of meat refused, not kosher (4) TREF (Container => meaT, REFused)