No 12135, Thursday 12 Oct 2017, Neyartha

ACROSS
1   Bellied patron pilloried after consuming an underground root (11) PROTUBERANT {TUBER} in {PATRON}*
9   Clasp and extract the hidden synthetic material (7) SPANDEX [T]
10 Class of plants providing almonds, coconuts, and cashews in abundance initially (6) ACACIA Acrostic
11 Synthetic material in the colouring stick needs no introduction (5) RAYON cRAYON
12 Character not to be trusted? (7) SKETCHY [DD]
15 Contact associate (4) LINK [DD]
16 Wild cougars circling the westbound salesman and the ship's officer (10) SUPERCARGO {SU{REP<=}CARGO*}
18 Pontoon reportedly pierced the rafter covering (10) BARGEBOARD {BARGE}{BOARD}(~bored)

20 Cards with the son put in front with the valuable goods (4) SWAG (+s)SWAG(-s)
23 European side-show gets freakish after Oscar's eviction (7) SWEDISH {SIDE+SHoW}*
24 Runway structure's power taken out by a gas used to make a synthetic material (5) NYLON (-p+n)NYLON
26 One leaves an Ukrainian city with a gibbon to get a synthetic material (6) KEVLAR {KiEV}{LAR}
27 Article on plea by the student in-charge to get a synthetic material (7) ACRYLIC {A}{CRY}{L}{IC}
28 Frank's scheme to get hold of an Indian wheel component (11) PLAINSPOKEN {PLA{IN}{SPOKE}N}

DOWN
2   Fee includes party in retreat with an animal (6) RODENT {R{DO<=}ENT}
3   Words in an SMS (4) TEXT [CD]
4   Need to live with the bishop in the outskirts of Bellary to get a fruit (10) BLACKBERRY {LACK}{BE}{RR} in {Be...rY}

5   Heart melts after embracing Tom coming up to connect again (8) REATTACH {REAT{CAT<=}H*}
6   Infernal enclosure for one with a reply to a bad choice (7) NEITHER {NE{1}THER}
7  Albatrosses at sea abandoned ship with an old navigation instrument (9) ASTROLABE ALBATROssES*

8   Grand one has the Colorado at its bottom (6) CANYON [CD/GK]

13 Moody's motivated by orders (3,2,5) OUT OF SORTS {OUT} {OF} {SORTS}
14 Bully with energy gets rid of the single mark under the auditor's tight collar (9) ROUGHNECK (~ruff){ROUGH}{N(-i+e)ECK}
17 Spoilt wine held in the capital (3,5) NEW DELHI*
19 Uncooked offering pointing to poor treatment? (3,4) RAW DEAL {RAW} {DEAL}
21 Wife composing idyll with great enthusiasm (6) WILDLY {W}{IDYLL}*
22 Dishonest Greek character upset by model in front of the French street (6) UNTRUE {NU<=}{T}{RUE}
25 Part of a garland adorning the lower part of a wall (4) DADO [T]

GRID