Nice one! 8A wasn't coming to me (definitely one I SHOULD know but I'm bad with remembering world leaders; I'm from the US) and couldn't work out which kind of fare 9A was referring to, but that didn't slow me down too much :D
Not so much a coincidence… I’ve given into using old-chestnut clues to balance out my more “idiosyncratic” clues, and that one is one of the chestnuttiest (especially in the NYT).