No 10978, Thursday 09 Jan 2014, Arden

Ah... today was more like the Arden of old, unlike the last three days.

ACROSS

1   Rare thing for a bureaucrat to sit over them (10,4) COLLECTORS ITEM {COLLECTOR}{S IT}{'EM}

10 Nude fellow went around without food (5) UNFED {NUDE+F}*

11 Sustenance for sight (9) PROVISION {PRO}{VISION}

12 Brief insurer about a cheat (7) LACONIC {L{A}{CON}IC}

13 Defective rectifier, not provided for the enumerator (7) RECITER {RECTifIER}*

14 Square aperture for a row lock (5) THOLE {T}{HOLE} Rowlock is one word

16 The Chinese way is followed by everyone who is a PM (9) TAOISEACH {TAO}{IS}{EACH}

19 Insect over a cigar shaped mushroom (3,6) FLY AGARIC {FLY} {A}{CIGAR*}

20 Soldiers burdened by a bag of bones (5) SACRA {SAC}{RA}

22 Drinks catered to for everyone in the country house (7) CHATEAU {CHA}{TEA}{U}

25 Second stop or second point? (7) ENDORSE {END}{OR}{S}{E}

27 One who is sick gets married, can’t wait (9) IMPATIENT {1}{M}{PATIENT}

28 Animal — a cross between camel and giraffe (5) ELAND [T] Why is the Giraffe here?

29 Amorphous 9 protects cricket side who appeal and stop proceedings (14) NONCRYSTALLINE {N{ON}{CRY}{STALL}INE}

DOWN

2   Sense of smell — nothing left over plant (9) OLFACTORY {O}{L}{FACTORY}

3   Left port with cargo (5) LADEN {L}{ADEN}

4   Undercover hero protects one holding charge (9) CAPACITOR {CAP}{AC{1}TOR}

5   Smell from a river, say (5) ODOUR (~oder)

6   Fit for legal wranglings, they are often carried on one’s wanderings (9) SUITCASES {SUIT}{CASES}

7   Team leader is not corrupt (5) TAINT {T}{AIN'T}

8   The king agreed to be part of procession (7) MONARCH {M{ON}ARCH}

9   May be William sounding doubtful about fish (6) MULLET {MU}{LLET}<=

15 An appliance to encourage the winner (9) EGGBEATER {EGG}{BEATER}

17 They play rough with her co-star (9) ORCHESTRA*

18 Make sure services providers retain transport (9) ASCERTAIN {ASC}{RETAIN*}

19 Force a lawsuit on the group (7) FACTION {F}{ACTION}

21 Middleman almost died, middleman makes plan (6) AGENDA {AGENt}{D}{mAn}

23 Growth in a spendthrift nation (5) ASPEN [T] Superfluous nation

24 They hire from American metros regularly (5) USERS {US}{mEtRoS}

26 Stay and prosper, nothing will be lost (5) DWELL {Do WELL}