No 12697, Tuesday 06 Aug 2019, Gridman

ACROSS
1   Lack of punctuality of Delhi leader back in the French ship (8) LATENESS {LA}{TENE}{SS} Anno for TENE pending (Addendum - {L{NETA<=}E}{SS} - See comments)
5   Sailor returns with brown cane (6) RATTAN {TAR<=}{TAN}
9   Climb up with new, primarily invigorated muscles (7) SCALENI {SCALE}{N}{In...d}
10 One who doesn't play with anybody else (7) SOLOIST [CD]
11 Father moving again to part of South America (9) PATAGONIA {PA}{AGAIN+TO}*
12 Safari employee no big consumer (5) EATER bEATER
13 Well, she drops top teacher (4) GURU Anno pending (Addendum - {GUsheR}{U} - See comments)
14 In hacienda, foremost of lodgers cooked a Mexican dish (9) ENCHILADA {HACIENDA}* over {Lo...s}
17 True, a claw is damaged. What the cats do! (9) CATERWAUL*
19 Scent model left in bar (4) RAIL tRAIL
23 Said to change part of church (5) ALTAR (~alter)
24 I smoke languidly and follow sled puller (6,3) ESKIMO DOG {I+SMOKE}*{DOG}
25 Last three bits of glass held back in cart (7) TUMBREL {TUMB(LER<=)}

26 Wraps boy, seen wandering around and shivering (7) ENROBES {EN{ROB}ES*}
27 Ceremony gets trial conducted around union chief (6) RITUAL {RIT{Un..n}AL*}
28 Priest beginning to secure changes in church books (8) PSALTERS {Pr...t}{Se...e}{ALTERS}

DOWN
1   Yet some readers of newspapers might begin from here (4,4) LAST PAGE [CD]
2   One betrays characteristic to chiefs of other ranks (7) TRAITOR {TRAIT}{Ot..r}{Ra..s}
3   Little urges for cakes with __ __? (2,4) NO EGGS {NO}{EGGS} FITB Little/No? See comments
4   Yarn after yarn came from this machine of the Mahatma (8,5) SPINNING WHEEL [CD]
6   Curative plants – everything the man too outspent (8) ALLHEALS {ALL}{HE}{ALSo}
7   Novel character with journalist danced (7) TWISTED {TWIST}{ED}
8   Basic quality of Mother Earth (6) NATURE [DD]
10 Brussels hack with daring adventurers (13) SWASHBUCKLERS* {BRUSSELS+HACK+W}*
15 Rare art I found used in green houses (8) TERRARIA*

16 Support in extraordinary sites for plaintive poets (8) ELEGISTS {E{LEG}ISTS*}
18 Try volunteers rising and disrupting Met exercise (7) ATTEMPT {TA<=}{MET*}{PT}
20 Saudi able to shoot heads in sonic range (7) AUDIBLE {sAUDI}{aBLE}
21 Maul a cricket player (6) BATTER [DD]
22 Without scruples, a man's taking a kind of exam (6) AMORAL {A}{M}{ORAL}

Reference List
New = N, Father = PA, Big = B, Top = U, Model = T, Boy = ROB, Out = O, Journalist = ED, With = W, Volunteers = TA, Man = M

GRID