No.10721, Friday 15 Mar 13, Sankalak

Another smoothie from Sankalak. He never disappoints.

The much dreaded Ides of March are come as Caesar said to the soothsayer in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene I, to which you will, of course, remember the soothsayer's famous riposte: "Ay, Caesar; but not gone."

But with Sankalak, at least in the crossword world, I can only quote Alfred E. Neuman :  "What, me worry?"

ACROSS

 1 In unusual parlance, a cave can be a place for rocket shots (4,9) CAPE CANAVERAL (PARLANCE A CAVE)*

10 Girl, stranger, to press for metal in thin layers (5,4) SHEET IRON (SHE+ET+IRON)

11 Reportedly spotted and located (5) SITED (~sighted)

12 See, work by youth leader is crafty (5) LOOPY LO OP Y

13 A gear refit arranged for something that holds a source of heat (9) FIREGRATE (GEAR REFIT)*

14 The way British sailors become up-to-date (6) MODERN (MODE+RN)

16 Make petty objections to Victoria visiting U.S. sate (5) CAVIL (VI inside CAL)

19 Play the guitar, as would a good man with spirit (5) STRUM ST RUM

20 Inciting the inclusion of drink in breakfast food (6) EGGING (GIN inside EGG)

25 Royal creeper with a deadly bite (4,5) KING COBRA (CC,2) Sworn enemy of 21 down

26 More depressed because energy is consumed in a haze (5) BLUER (E inside BLUR)

27 Hooked finger seen in a foetal onager (5) TALON (T) 21d's talon can grad 25a

28 Russian money beginning to draw editor in is increased by 100 per cent (9) REDOUBLED (ED inside ROUBLE D)

29 What disputants do to keep the peace when there is no common ground (5,2,6) AGREE TO DIFFER CD

SEE THIS CARTOON

DOWN

 2 Mass of tissue producing noise: dad needs treatment (8) ADENOIDS (NOISE DAD)* If definition is taken as "Mass of tissue producing noise", then noise is on double duty, as part of definition and part of anagram fodder

3 Directions to attempt ingress (5) ENTRY EN TRY

4 A physician provided with time is left to his own resources (6) ADRIFT  A DR IF T

5 Sailor girl, trainee, is not the usual (8) ABNORMAL AB NORMA L

6 Relaxed – not necessarily only when on the way out! (9) EASY GOING I am tempted to put my own picture here, but then no self-aggrandizement is going to be appreciated, even by friends

7 Real performance by leaders in university alumni league (6) ACTUAL ACT U A L

8 The refugee’s goal (6) ASYLUM CD

9 Milk producer taking top off steering device (5) UDDER  rUDDER I thought some udder word would come in here because udder is not a producer, only a distributor. We 29a. Oh, just joking.

15 Unwillingness to talk about recent ice formation (9) RETICENCE (RECENT ICE)*

17 One may get this if careless in exposure to big star (8) SUNBURNT CD

18 Artificial intelligence and cunning trap student in sharp peak of rock (8) AIGUILLE (AI+GUILE outside L) This word was new to me, though I have seen such formations in the middle distance when on the slopes of Mt Rainier

21 Indian divine vehicle for Irish cop crossing university (6) GARUDA (GARDA outside U) Sworn enemy of 25 across

22 A fish that takes beating (5) SKATE 2 though I really didn't get the beating part.;-) A skate drum?  Correction TAKES* - See comments below

23 Disconnect the power of peacekeepers with a commercial (6) UNPLUG UN PLUG

24 Came back to earth from an unusual and educative flight (6) LANDED (T) Linked to 1 across, take off from there and come back to earth

26 Too honest // to deceive! (5) BLUFF 2 I saw once saw a bluff near Srirangapatna

LINK TO SOLUTION GRID