No 13077, Tuesday 27 Oct 2020, Arden

Solution to 11A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS

1   Muscle building with ties, could be bits and pieces (6) BICEPS {BItS+PiECes}* [CA]

4   At home within a say... (8) ASTATINE {A}{STAT{IN}E}

10 ... immobile, caught 4 with suspect action (9) CATATONIC  {C}{AT}{ACTION}*

11 OK, King will return with Queen (5) R?G?R (Addendum - ROGER {R}{GO<=}{ER} - See comments)

12 One picks hard pebble (7) SHINGLE {S{H}INGLE}

13 Eager to get some central finance upfront for material (7) NANKEEN {KEEN}<=>{fiNANce}

14 Part of London separates — to impact in some way (3,2) ACT ON  ACTON with ACT and ON separated

15 Bar language (8) LEGALESE [CD]

18 Alerting criminal, figure that! (8) TRIANGLE*

20 Cut one out — no irritation (5) NOTCH {NO}{iTCH}

23 Way one is packed in a container — keep away (7) ABSTAIN {A}{B{ST}{A}IN}

25 Switch without current, not enough to run (7) SCAMPER {SwitCh}{AMPERe}

26 Composer exposed, exaggerated in a way (5) VERDI oVERDId

27 Places to get better things like doughnuts, in the capital (9) SANATORIA {SANA{TORI}A}

28 Butter, again half of it goes on one fruit (8) RAMBUTAN {RAM}{BUTter}{AN}

29 I would enter the race this time of the week (6) FRIDAY {FR{I'D}AY}

DOWN

1   Support as friends come up to congratulate (8) BACKSLAP {BACK}{PALS<=}

2   Herb and Tom, they make money here (7) CATMINT {CAT}{MINT}

3   Headache ends — in short, Iraq is not even a desert (9) PATAGONIA {PATe}{AGONy}{IrAq}

5   Anticipating trouble — sing song and seduce (6-8) SECOND-GUESSING {SING+SONG+SEDUCE}* 

6   Gaps prone to reveal what's inside the pinafore (5) APRON {gAPs}{pRONe}

7   Entry for foreign singers (7) INGRESS*

8   Slip to accompany task (6) ERRAND {ERR}{AND}

9   In say 11, men admitted are highly learned people (14) INTELLEGENTSIA {IN}{TELL}{1{GENTS}1}{A}

16 House made crates to support network (9) LANCASTER  {CRATES*}<=>{LAN}

17 Cover up over damage by unknown drug dealer (8) PHARMACY {P{HARM}AC<=}{Y}

19 Ask for food and drink on stage (7) ROSTRUM (~roast){ROST}{RUM}

21 Harry, Bill and Peter became sharp (7) TAPERED {AD+PETER}* Partially indirect anagram

22 What the magpie left in the plate (6) SALVER {SA{L}VER}

24 So long as end is gold plated (5) ADIEU {A{DIE}U}

Reference List

King = R, Queen = ER, Caught = C, Hard = H, Are = A, Unknown = Y, Bill = AD, Left = L, Gold = AU