No 12597, Thursday 11 Apr 2019, Avtaar

Long clues like Neyartha's crosswords. My personal opinion, some long ones like 11A and 8D were too convoluted for my liking

ACROSS
1   A drop of lime-infused wild honey (7) DARLING {DAR{Lime}ING}
5   Dr. Spooner propounded that the conjunction of a star and satellite leads to deluge for days on end (7) MONSOON (Spoonerism of SUN MOON)
9   Frank leaves home, chasing popular girl next door, maybe? (7) INGENUE {IN}{GENUinE}
10 Pull of light cart tackling turns (7) ATTRACT [T<=]
11 Explain why return on advance covering promotion ignores the last instalment of repayments (9) INTERPRET {INTER{PR}EsT}
12 After eliminating America, Austria thrashed Indian side (5) RAITA AusTRIA*
13 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’s opening fights (5) SPATS {Po...r+And+The+So...r+St..e}*
15 Evangelist voiced love quote, say, ... that helps keep sickness at bay (9) LEUCOCYTE (~luke){LEUC}{O}{CYTE}(~cite)
17 Doctor in love gets direction (9) HOMEOPATH {HOME}{O}{PATH}
19 For mathematicians, it signifies a total disgrace when Fermat's last is forgotten (5) SIGMA StIGMA
22 Not a vessel to provide a meal (5) LUNCH LaUNCH
23 A piece intended to be heard flat (9) APARTMENT {A}{PART}{MENT}(~meant)
25 Symmetrical roof is better with sides interchanged (7) GAMBREL GAMB(-l+r)RE(-r+l)L

26 Punches holes in reform of Bible Society by Democrat (7) DIBBLES {D}{BIBLE*}{S}
27 Conspicuously new — yet old-fashioned (7) NOTEDLY {N}{YET+OLD}*
28 Extremely fretful jaguar's spring (7) FLOUNCE {Fr...uL}{OUNCE}

DOWN
1   Platform is shrouding the bottom of orange flowers (7) DAISIES {DAIS}{I{o...gE}S}

2   Race event, for instance, is enveloped by perfume wafting up (7) REGATTA {EG} in {ATTAR<=}
3   Secret want given up by freshman (5) INNER begINNER
4   Aggressive, mostly irregular rebel, ultimately (9) GUERRILLA {IRREGULA+r..eL}* &lit
5   Suggested adding root of onion in mutton, perhaps? (5) MEANT {MEA{o..oN}T}
6   Scandalous, revolting bilge left neurobiologist unsettled (9) NOTORIOUS NeURObiOlOgIST*
7   Cloudiness is beginning to overwhelm the outskirts of Patiala town (7) OPACITY {Ov...m}{Pa...lA}{CITY}
8   Compound interest is charged after including arrears from inception and deducting cess (excluding tips) (7) NITRATE {INTEResT}* over {Ar...s}
14 Small bear at the fag ends of the wood gets killed (9) SMOTHERED {S}{MOTHER}{thE}{wooD}
16 Judge found criminal's clothing? Never happened before! (7-2) UNHEARD-OF {HEAR} in {FOUND}*
17 Bird is eating a piece of wood, I say! (7) HALOGEN {H{A}{LOG}EN}
18 Free — yet I'm unambitious... controlling...retiring (7) MANUMIT [T<=]
20 Source of problems from global test on the basics of machine learning and integrated networks (7) GREMLIN {GRE}{Ma...e}{Le...g}{In...d}{Ne...s}
21 Musician playing sitar starts to transfix everyone (7) ARTISTE {SITAR*}{Tr...x}{Ev...e}
23 Solder toys after unpacking completely on top (5) ALLOY {tOYs}{<=>{ALL}
24 Bought a book filled with forbidden stuff (5) TABOO [T]

Reference List

Home, Popular = IN, Better = GAMBLER, Global test = GRE, Promotion = PR

GRID