No 11591, Monday 04 Jan 2016, Aspartame

They definitely are, so says Nina :-)

ACROSS
9   Certification correctly categorised with ease (9,6) ASSOCIATE DEGREE {CATEGORISED+EASE}*
10 See pious individual heading out excitedly to accept… (7) ESPOUSE {SEE+PiOUS}*
12 … a group of plants from a royal bishop near Utah, America (7) ARBUTUS {A}{R}{B}{UT}{US}
13 Practice moving Lear’s hearse without direction (9) REHEARSAL {LEAR+HEARSe}*
14 Grains stored in Bellandur ransacked (5) DURRA [T]

15 Complained about delayed trade of euro and pound (7) BLEATED {B{e<>l)LEATED}
18 Gate guards a safety device that’s essential for rowing (7) OARLOCK {O{A}R}{LOCK}
21 It's extremely elastic as proclaimed by Research Assistant (5) LYCRA (¬like){LYC}{RA}
23 Ryder’s cleaning appliance? (4,5) SPIN DRYER {RYDER}*
25 Woman returning from lab with small book on plants (7) HERBALS {HER}{BAL<=}{S}
26 Daughter gets to possess weapon that causes a stroke (7) DOWNBOW {D}{OWN}{BOW}

29 A stimulus people get stroking a red cat at a video game centre (9,6) AMUSEMENT ARCADE {A}{MUSE}{MEN}{T ARCADE*}

DOWN
1   Empty coffee packets, lids of Americanos, frappes found here (4) CAFE {CoffeE} around {Am...s}{Fr...s} Intended &lit
2   Request upsets senior vice-president (1,1,1,1) R.S.V.P {SR<=}{VP}
3   Firm returns trophy to worker who lives in a rented house (8) OCCUPANT {CO<=}{CUP}{ANT}
4   Writer speaks without doubt (6) SAYERS {SAY{ER}S}
5   Raise log to build lodging for women (8) SERAGLIO*
6   Stuck online? (6) WEBBED [CD]
7   Speaker starts to intone one musical composition (8) ORATORIO {ORATOR}{In...e}{One}
8   Tree bird (8) REDSHANK [DD]
11 Leaders of south Turkish enterprise establish large-scale production of material (5) STEEL Acrostic
15 Obstinate editor got killed by mud cat (8) BULLHEAD BULLHEADed

16 Before hooligan starts to smack you and me, have a discussion (8) EXCURSUS {EX}{CUR}{Smack}{US}
17 Daughter and a sister maybe? That’s a tragedy (8) DISASTER {D}{A+SISTER}*
19 Angry midget is a star (3,5) RED DWARF {RED} {DWARF}
20 Article of faith found in sacred object (5) CREDO [T]
22 Flower taken from a grassland around borders of Zambia (6) AZALEA {A}{ZambiA}{LEA}

24 Compose music without funding, taking time (6) INDITE {INDI{T}E}
27 Partner said “26 across, not down” (4) BEAU (~ downbow}
28 When husband leaves, get rare bird (4) WREN W(-h+r)REN

GRID