No 12861, Tuesday 18 Feb 2020, Arden

ACROSS
1   Quietly drew away, was smart (6) SHREWD {SH}{DREW*}
4   Transported from regular perch — but not moving (8) ECSTATIC {pErCh}{STATIC}
10 Stone man lived in denial, perhaps (9) ALMANDINE {AL{MAN}DINE*}
11 Part of the problem, one that’s defective (5) LEMON [T]
12 Studied country’s extended borders (7) PERUSED {PERU'S}{Ex...eD}
13 Knowing finally the paint's to be mixed (7) SAPIENT {thE+PAINTS}*
14 Because of a song only... (3,2) DUE TO {DUET}{O}
15 ...soldiers and spies have reactionary tendencies (8) REAGENTS {RE}{AGENTS}
18 Dear Mike’s new profession (8) DIEMAKER*
20 Send back watch (5) TIMER<=
23 Not good to have set up the last fighting unit (7) BRIGADE {B{RIG}AD}{thE}
25 Two drinks over mid afternoon? There is mortification (7) CHAGRIN {CHA}{G{a..eRn..n}IN}
26 Posed say with French composer (5) SATIE {SAT}{IE}
27 Happy to take on, dog’s tail is stretched (9) ELONGATED {EL{ON}{doG}ATED}
28 A flower takes form, it’s of inferior quality (8) DECLASSE {DE{CLASS}E}
29 Weighed down with last of the tomatoes rotten (6) ADDLED sADDLED

DOWN
1   Frank meddles regularly, causing flight (8) STAMPEDE {STAMP}{mEdDlEs}
2   “Rue over etiquette”, they say (7) REMORSE {RE}{MORSE}(~ mores)
3   Trims down, unusually violent weather (9) WINDSTORM*
5   Shady character stole a fancy car (7,7) CHELSEA TRACTOR*
6   Bulb lit up by accident (5) TULIP*
7   Play’s in American city, by the way (7) TEMPEST {TEMPE}{ST}
8   Old king, one wearing something pretty (6) CANUTE {C{AN}UTE}
9   Making friends with cricket players, part of children’s code (7,7) FINDERS KEEPERS {FRIENDS}*{KEEPERS}
16 Alien entered England’s borders, was no longer friendly (9) ESTRANGED {STRANGE} in {En...nD}
17 Crime syndicates growing racket in the country (8) TRINIDAD {TRI{DIN<=}AD}

19 Depoliticise conversion, losing sleep is stupid (7) IDIOTIC DepOlITICIse*
21 One writing in Tamil dealt with union affairs (7) MARITAL {A}{R} in {TAMIL}*
22 Rated a book as old (6) ABUSED {A}{B}{USED}
24 Field where soldiers enter one by one (5) ARENA {A{RE}N}{A}

Reference List
Only = O, Soldiers = RE, Flower = River = DEE, Over = RE, Way = ST, One = AN, A, Writing = R, Book = B

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Mrs.CANUTE, the recently wedded wife of a DIEMAKER from TRINIDAD was ECSTATIC, when her husband presented her an ALMANDINE garnet ring for her birthday. Her father, who had been REMORSEful as he thought her daughter had married DECLASSE, was pleasantly surprised by the gift. He was SHREWD enough to sense that his son-in-law could not possibly afford such a costly gift. He got it PERUSED by a jeweller, who treated it with some chemical REAGENTS and declared it to be a cheap fake.  A WINDSTORM, nay a TEMPEST, blew through their MARITAL life, when she found out to her CHAGRIN that the ring was LEMON. An ELONGATED war of words followed, in which she ABUSED not only her husband but his entire clan. The diemaker sent a bunch of TULIPs with a note that said "'Sorry, I Love You, I'll Stop Acting IDIOTIC". Strange are the ways of a woman's mind; DUE TO this simple gift she was pacified and it prevented them from getting ESTRANGED. Of course, being SAPIENT, she had also extracted a promise from him that he would buy a CHELSEA TRACTOR, a real one, for her next birthday.