No 12460, Wednesday 31 Oct 2018, Skuldugger

Skuldugger favouring women today!

ACROSS
9   Broadcast mama's nice speech. Way to go! (6,9) ESCAPE MECHANISM*
10 Creatures filled with hopeless ennui, baloney (7) BUNNIES {ENNUI}* in {BS}
12 It provides immunity for accountant sneaking into plant (7) VACCINE {V{ACC}INE} 
13 Animal droppings, discharge in boxes (9) IGUANODON {I{GUANO}{DO}N}

14 Middle Easterner overwhelmed by megalomania (5) OMANI [T]
15 Wait up in order to avoid finishing off hash brownies (7) EDIBLES {BIDE<=}{LESt}
18 Resilient English shoe built on this island by sea (7) ELASTIC {E}{LAST}{I}{C} Homophone indicator missing
21 Animal subsequently switched sides (5) RATEL (-l+r)RATE(-r+l)L

23 Issue in away season (9) OFFSPRING {OFF}{SPRING}
25 More places for posh principals around number one academy (7) UTOPIAS {U}{TOP{1}{A}S}
26 Magnificent venture to cloak ordinary sexism perhaps (7) BIGOTRY {BIG}{O}{TRY}
29 It ends up at gallows after Lambert stabbed liar for gossip (15) FLIBBERTIGIBBET {F{L}IBBER}{IT<=}{GIBBET}

DOWN
1   Plant for motherboard components (4) HERB [T]
2   Someone admired for independent study (4) ICON {I}{CON}
3   Non-essential sound work for artist (8) OPTIONAL {OP}TIONAL Anno pending (Addendum - (-ra+op)OPTIONAL - See comments)
4   Fascinated by medusa at sea (6) AMUSED*
5   Legal body to inflict punishment for hunt (8) SCAVENGE {SC}{AVENGE}
6   Short, clumsy, old cowboy (6) GAUCHO {GAUCHe}{O}
7   Drunk police officer hits worker, she files suit (8) LITIGANT {LIT}{IG}{ANT} What's the role of 'hits'?
8   Forgetful woman dressed as iceman (8) AMNESIAC*
11 Recommended outrigger evenly placed on windward side (5) URGED {oUtRiGgEr}{w...rD}
15 Trimmed facial hair messes up cold-weather headwear (8) EARMUFFS {bEARd}{MUFFS}
16 Allow entry to popular stars regularly, ordinary man rejected (8) INTROMIT {IN}{sTaRs}{O}{TIM<=}
17 They help keep you on the wagon! (8) SPONSORS [DD?] Second definition not clear [CD] See comments
19 Broken chord in chaotic opera gig (8) ARPEGGIO*
20 Criminal renouncing wickedness finally might fid such peace (5) INNER sINNER
22 Crafty bachelor daily set aside money for the future (4,2) LAID BY {B+DAILY}*
24 Material from marvellous device's core (6) FABRIC {FAB}{tRICk}
27 Join up as band member (4) TUBA <=
28 Nepali legend has the old Italian upset (4) YETI {YE}{IT<=}

GRID