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Sorry PS, we were talking at cross purposes regarding 2d.

I thought what cheerleaders use and what we sleep on were called the same thing. The answer is the latter and never split 3-3.

I've (American) always thought POM-POM is what cheerleaders use, don't see any relation to 2.

You're both right, for some reason, probably on a very Freudian scale, I thought cheerleaders, in addition to pom-poms, used smaller versions of the answer in part of their act.

That is what I have! Is that not correct then?

Sorry for the confusion PS, my fault entirely. The answer to the first word is not pom-poms and the third letter is L.

Glad to see that I'm not the only one who found this puzzle difficult - and I quite agree that some of the clues are "loose".
And I still can't parse 5a - because although I'm sure (almost!) I have the right solution I don't see how the middle two letter are "bill". Is it perhaps the sort of bill that one posts on a hoarding?

Yes RonPegram, that is it exactly:-)

Yes I have seen Bill used for that before but I had forgotten about it.

Ok, I have 9A wrong then, although my answer makes perfect sense! I have the first 3 letters of time (a long time?) and a plural word for checkout (as in "jumps out of an aeroplane", or "removes water from a boat"), which is also a type of food container?

9 parses as (4,4). The latter 4 is "long time", the opening 4 could be considered a bit loose. (Telegraphic to avoid spoilers)

PS, this is pretty tricky ...

9a - 4 letter "by check-out" (an object that you always encounter at a check-out) then 4 letter "a long time" - definition is "prepared spaces for food" as in farming.