No. 9473, Friday, 06 Mar 09, Gridman

Did reasonably well today, though quips and quotes are not my cup of tea so I had to Google the answer for Gray's quote somehow managed to correctly guess the Wordsworth quote which I confirmed through Google. (Have added some updates with help from Chaturvasi at the ORKUT community
ACROSS
 1 - U.P. memoir to re-establish bazaar (8) - EMPORIUM* I always thought Emporium is a single shop, how can it be a bazaar which is normally a collection of shops? Comments anyone
 6 - Champions right out of competitions (4) - (-r)ACES
 9 - ”Full many a gem of __ ray serene” (Gray) (6) - PUREST Had to google for this answer
10 - Get to understand serial blasts in the East (7) - REALIS*{E}
13 - In succession as horses might move? (2,3,4) - ON THE TROT [CD]
14 - Hero crossing one step (5) - STA{I}R
15 - Cover nothing in swimming pool! (4) - NUDE Wordplay here is innapropriate if my answer is correct, what has nude got to do with a swimming pool, nobody swims in the nude in a pool yes one may do it in an isolated cove. (Update - Ignore my earlier comments the answer id LID{O})
16 - Kind of talc, maybe, that can be used in many ways (3-7) - ALL PURPOSE [CD] Wordplay I feel is insufficient here
19 - Responds excessively to deliveries — crates broken (10) - {OVER}REACTS*
21 - Mentioned second help (4) - S{AID}
24 - Hid no fittings for old vessel (5) - DHONI* I almost put in THONI which is boat in Malayalam/Tamil till better sense prevailed. This is of Maldivian origin see the link
25 - The oldest issue? (5-4) - FIRST BORN [CD]
26 - Building material in quiet corner (7) - SH{IN}GL{E} Annotation for GL not clear (Update SH{INGLE} Ingle is a fireplace so the quiet corner)
27 - Threaten sprite with termination (6) - IMP{END}
28 - Dangerous position if hot! (4) - STAR [CD]
29 - What a great danger may involve (4,4) - HIGH RISK [CD]
DOWN
 2 - "…and, as I __ up the hill…” (Wordsworth) (7) - MOUNTED Got this with a lucky guess which proved correct
 3 - Key batsman? (6) OPENER [2]
 4 - In Latin, among other things (5,4) - INTER ALIA [CD]
 5 - Setter right about one’s worth (5) - ME{R}IT Setter vs Time?? (Update {ME}R{I}T Me being the setter!)
 7 - U.S. city that was elegant once upon a time? (7) - CHIC{AGO}
 8 - Serving as leader (12) - SPEARHEADING [CD] Wordplay is insufficient here
11 - Declare the strong point about Rex (6) - ASSE{R}T
12 - Furniture old writers may have used for their creative work (7,5) - ROLLTOP DESKS [CD] Insufficient wordplay
17 - Setting off fireworks, darling is dangerously daring (9) - {PET}ARDING * Agreed Petard is a type of bomb or firework, but is petarding a word?
18 - Cockney fish is making a mistake (6) - (-h)ERRING
20 - Account one tore up pertains to amatory literature (7) - EROTICA<- 22 - Is plentiful overall, though limit is at heart (7) - ABOUNDS Annotation not clear (Update - A{BOUND}S)
23 - Good man to pour out in a daze (6) - {ST}UPOR*
25 - New French version of She (5) - {FR}ESH