Special, Sunday 07 Apr 2019, Karthikeyan

Three answers per commenter as usual till 6 PM (Annotaions compulsory)
Please provide all your answers in one comment.

PREAMBLE

This crossword variant has three extra features added to the standard THC and the instructions to solve are given below:

1. Each four letters clue’s wordplay leads to only three letters i.e one letter less than what is required for the solution. for e.g. if the clue reads "Disallow British article (4)" wordplay leads us to the answer BAN; Add K at the end and fit the grid with BANK as the solution; The letter addition could be anywhere in the answer got from wordplay; solver has to make the appropriate decision on where the letter should be added as per the solution grid; Also the resultant four letters arrived at will be meaningful.

All such 4-letter clues, except 29A and 3D, are starred and they are 11 in count. 

Across: 8,10,18,20,31;    Down: 2,5,7,25,26,28

Rest of the clues are to be solved in normal manner.

2. Discover the nina in outermost squares (4,3,3,5,3,4,6) and announce it at the end after all solutions have been revealed in the blog.

3. 1st, 6th and 7th words of the phrase fit in 29 Across and 3 Down. Hence no clues are given for them. Fit the phrase words appropriately in the solution grid.

ACROSS
8   Jacob's son gets martial arts ranking* (4)
9   Opprobrium caused by mantra encircling an island (5)
10 Everything starts as latent life* (4)
11 Roost inn built by a New Zealand bird (8)
12 Travel sickness in Patna? use avomine (6)
13 Far off, in charge of a great land mass (6)
15 Calibre of unorthodox tirade about setter (8)
18 Young man heading to Lucknow and Delhi* (4)
19 Sweetheart drops straw by mistake to giggle (5)
20 Comedy not bad in lifetime* (4)
21 Royal ferns and sumos wrestle (8)
23 Consume big doses ultimately restraining mad cow disease (6)
24 Vast expanses for old church with brief solution (6)
27 Attempt to totter around unknown point for instrument trio (8)
29 No clue (4)

DOWN
1   Limitless chaos for Vietnamese coinage* (4)
2   Second soda poured afresh in my gin for disgrace (8)
3   No clue (4,6)
4   Virgin journalist a model dropped an easy chance (6,3,6)
5   All US presidents have same nature* (4)
6   Kind of grown up spending money for knight (6)
7   Direction opposite to WNW is Assam suffix* (4)
14 Big accomplishments by obesities having energy (5)
16 Really! yellow flightless bird not having monthly periods (10)
17 Snicks producing boundaries (5)
20 Did the dishes, as wife Anglo-Saxan was delayed, not long though (6,2)
22 Employable with polarity reversal became powerless (6)
25 Large sea fish upset the medico* (4)
26 Medicinal compound extracted regularly from stalls* (4)
28 Janitor partly  returns base metal* (4)

Across Lite version can be accessed at KSP 8

Enjoy.