No 12325, Thursday 24 May 2018, Arden

ACROSS
9   Supporter going against a party — it's a display of courage (7) BRAVADO {BRA}{V}{A}{DO}
10 Jump in anger, the place is dirty (7) FLEAPIT {F{LEAP}IT}
11 A ship perhaps returns to the old capital (7) CAMELOT {CAMEL}{TO<=}
12 Money's guaranteed for the rest (7) LEISURE {LEI}{SURE}
13 Extremely silly to say one's left the group (9) SYNDICATE {SillY}{iNDICATE}
15 Maybe alight athwartships (5) ABEAM {A}{BEAM}
16 John's burdened with work, is a star (7) CANOPUS {CAN}{OPUS}
19 Fool's got limited period to air his views here (7) TWITTER {TWIT}{TERm} Ha Ha! How true.
20 Marie tailored cloth (5) RAMIE*

21 Persistent line, exposed record (9) CHRONICLE {CHRONIC}{LinE}
25 Fruit, date inside a piece of cloth (7) BANDANA {BAN{D}ANA}
26 Computing with uniform input, no good in the end for an artist (7) GAUGUIN {GAUG{U}INg}
28 Can regular matter get in line? (7) LATRINE {L{mAtTeR}INE}
29 Falls in pouring rain, a match stopped midway (7) NIAGARA {A}{GAme} in {RAIN}*

DOWN
1   Grab a custard pie kept in the counter (6) ABACUS [T]
2   Side entrance in church has name of opera (6) CARMEN {C{ARM}E}{N} Arm/Side entrance? See comments
3   Manual work, one leaves it for savage (4) MAUL ManUAL*
4   Spider woman becomes a heroine (6) ?O?T?A (Addendum PORTIA [DD] - See comments))

5   Left unguarded, flowing waste (8) EFFLUENT {lEFt}{FLUENT}
6   Long before a musical show gets into a higher state (10) LEVITATION {L}{EVITA}{INTO*}
7   Such growth, by the way is the cleanest (8) SPRUCEST {SPRUCE}{ST}
8   Boat crossing river makes headline (8) STREAMER {ST{R}EAMER}
14 Showman makes repairs in one second (10) IMPRESARIO {1}{M{REPAIRS*}O}
16 The reverend said to be of old Irish stock — from Iowa, perhaps (4,4) CORN BELT (-b+c)CORN (-c+b)BELT
17 Propose Tom and Annie sort it out (8) NOMINATE*
18 Plea to accept case of a philosopher (8) SOCRATES {SO{CRATE}S}
22 Government is in control, under a Queen (6) REGINA {RE{G}IN}{A}
23 Courage lacking, in the end turns into a cat (6) COUGAR COURAGe*

24 Almost close, finally there are nine in a group (6) ENNEAD {EN{NEAr}D} No indicator for containment? See comments
27 Author rejects choice, in confused state (4) UTAH AUTHor*

GRID

Bhargav's Talepiece

The bouncer and the dancer - Part 45

Sudden commotion in Shangri-la.

A message is circulated through TWITTER and other social media that farm help REGINA had seen a COUGAR MAUL a sheep.

The local SYNDICATE NOMINATE the bouncer to head the team to track it down.

Some locals join with BRAVADO.