No 9980, Friday 22 Oct 10, Neyartha

Was pleasantly surprised when I zipped through today's Neyartha offering, am I getting better or was this an easier offering from Neyartha.
ACROSS
1   - Formerly free hero to get upset (10) - HERETOFORE*
6   - Initially request some volunteering postmen to notify the host (1,1,1,1) - {R} {S} {V} {P}
10 - Carriage caught with mails in some fence parts (9) - {GATE}{POSTS} (Addendum - (~gait){GATE}{POSTS} - See comments)
11 - Family division (5) - CLASS [DD]
12 - Detected a respiratory disease, upon which Gogo gets worried (8,5) - WHOOPING COUGH*
14 - Wish for the student to get expelled by the Yankee master (5) - (-l+y)YEARN
15 - Part of a book and a note found on fur sent back by the date (5,4) - {TI}{TLE P<-}{AGE}
17 - Greek character leaves surprised Ecuadoreans with some phone numbers (4,5) - AREA CODESnu*
21 - Mental description of a psychological barrier (5) - BLOCK [DD]
22 - Bone of bear attached to the dagger (8,5) - {SHOULDER} {BLADE}
24 - Animal employed near a ravine (5) - {A{BY}SS} Nice one
25 - Fix flipped membrane outside the gut (9) - {IN{TES<-}TINE} 
26 - Saw psychopath in hiding (4) - CHOP [T]
27 - Trouble foreseen when protecting saint with some fruits (10) - {FREE{ST}ONES*}

DOWN
1   - Trunk road crew spots a bandit (10) - {HIGHWAY}{MAN}

SEE THESE HIGHWAYMEN

2   - Explanation for accidental alteration by missing model (9) - RATIONALEt*
3   - Pause first to get to the bottom and hold down the result of some strokes (7) - {(-s)TOP(+s)S}{PIN} Took a while to get the anno for this
4   - X turns up after a search for the meshed fabric (7) - {FISH}{NET<-}
5   - Pronounced lines on clip that was made almost hemispherical (4-3) - (~rows){ROSE}-{CUT}

7   - Hit that may be a big success (5) - SMASH [DD]
8   - Advertise to the press (4) - PUSH [DD]
9   - Champion claiming Charlie (American) is in charge (6) - {AC{C}{US}E}
13 - Seek beeper annoying the apiarists (10) - BEEKEEPERS*
16 - Plea to outlaw the Democrat's sideline pursuit (9) - AdVOCATION Another nice one
18 - Rowdy choirboys (except for the one-third in the centre) are difficult to please (6) - CHOOSYirb*
19 - Trifler to study write-up about trouble from the south (7) - {DA{LLI}ER} <-
20 - Unusual spectre with a ceremonial staff (7) - SCEPTRE*
21 - Take watchful responsibility for 24 Ac. briefly during the scrap (7) - {B{ABYSs}IT}

SEE THIS CARTOON

22 - Extract from the essay Sowmya wrote with authority (3-2) - SAY-SO [T]
23 - Speak about using carbon to extract potassium out of fine mineral (4) - TAL(-k+c)C

GRID