No 12504, Saturday 22 Dec 2018, Incognito

All the best for the IXL finals

Across

8. Look back at the castle dungeon (4) KEEP {PEEK<=}
9. Doctored every tape containing a detective (7,3) PRIVATE EYE {EVERY+TAPE*} around {I}
10. Brother went around first French restaurant (6) BISTRO {B{IST}RO}
11. Kamau wa Ngengi was a nondrinker in an African country (8) KENYATTA {KENY{A}{TT}A}

12. Perhaps, star Russian soldier captures American soldier (3,5) RED GIANT {RED}{GI}{ANT}
14. Implements used to clean bachelor's tenements (6) BROOMS {B}{ROOMS}
16. Cart rolled back 3 feet (4) YARD {DRAY<=}
17. Cremates poet (5) BURNS (DD)
18. Job for the amateur sweater knitter, for starters (4) TASK (Acrostic)
19. After losing an eye, I hear, Bambi wears spectacles to see grass (6) BAMBOO {BAMBi}{OO}
21. Sinister drawings that may be made with Indian ink? (5,3) BLACK ART (CD)
23. Small locks result in tensions (8) STRESSES {S}{TRESSES}
26. Forbid a quiet exile (6) BANISH {BAN}{I}[SH}
27. Posterior curve is important in analysing a financial statement (6,4) BOTTOM LINE {BOTTOM}{LINE}
28. Tory's confused in Helen's place (4) TROY {TORY*}

Down

1. German team has heads of roads and trails arranging requisite materials (10) DESIDERATA {DE}{SIDE}{Roads}{And}{Trails}{Arranging}
2. Overshadowed, at State level debate, at first (8) UPSTAGED {UP}{STAGE}{Debate}
3. Drunken peon surrounded by inveterate drinkers gets breathing problem (6) APNOEA {A{PEON*}A}
4. Go back amongst dark cinnamon trees to a prison (4) NICK (T<=)
5. Can catch one small plant (8) CANNABIS {CAN}{NAB}{I}{S}
6. Smooth passage played by student, for example, at commencement of opera (6) LEGATO {L}{EG}{AT}{Opera}
7. Half yard captured by Knight yielded Burmese currency (4) KYAT {K{YArd}T}
13. Tremble and mix broth (5) THROB {BROTH*}
15. Crime of omission takes place when son leaves prison during the course of a mission (10) MISPRISION {MIS{PRIson}SION}
17. Bunch of inflorescences and flowers placed around a vessel (8) BLOSSOMS {BLO{SS}OMS}
18. Remember that pickpockets do this (4,4) TAKE NOTE (D&CD)
20. Exhalation you can smell when British consume honey at first (6) BREATH {BR}{EAT}{Honey}
22. Walks amongst sham blesboks (6) AMBLES (T)
24. You get thousand after giving away construction material (4) THOU {THOUsand}
25. Fire away from a plane and expectorate (4) SPIT {SPITfire}

Reference List

A=I(A=One=I), Brother=Bro, First=Ist, Nondrinker=TT, Russian=Red, Soldier=Ant, American soldier=GI, Spectacles=OO, Small=S, Quiet=Sh
German=De, State=UP, Inveterate drinkers=AA, One=I, Student=L, Knight=Kt, Vessel=SS, British=Br

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous

GRID