No 13128, Friday 25 Dec 2020, Incognito

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

All those who are not regular commenters but who are rookie commenters or silent followers of the blog are requested to post answers with annotations in the comments section. In your own interest please avoid looking up the answers from the interactive version. Don't hesitate to post your annotations, in case you make a mistake in the annotation someone will correct it with the right annotation.

PLEASE NOTE, SOLUTIONS WITHOUT ATTEMPTING THE ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED

Each commenter is requested to post only 5 answers thereby giving others also a chance to participate. Please provide all your answers in one comment.

Regular solvers/Veterans can post 1 answer each, but after 11 AM only

The regular blog will replace the clues at 4 PM. 

Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS

7   Only fair (4) JUST [DD]

8   Occur beyond collapsed pier (9) TRANSPIRE {TRANS}{PIER*}

10 Like bird’s behind (6) ASTERN {AS}{TERN}

11 Love apples and minced meats too (8) TOMATOES*

12 How a switch may be used intermittently? (2,3,3) ON AND OFF [DD]

14 Show sappers some flesh (6) REVEAL {RE}{VEAL}

16 Bengali is confused about Hercule Poirot, for example (7) BELGIAN*

18 O Christ! That could be a bird (7) OSTRICH*

21 Hits insect on board ship (6) SMITES {S{MITE}S}

23 Place cleaning implements around journalist’s retirement quarters (8) BEDROOMS {B{ED}ROOMS}

25 Grape tea prepared for large mammal (5,3) GREAT APE*

27 Pa’s piano is with headless rascal (6) PASCAL {P}{rASCAL}

29 Is Santa confused about saint and devil-worshippers? (9) SATANISTS {IS+SANTA}* over {ST}

30 More than 6 balls? (4) OVER [DD]

DOWN

1   Bother! Inn sauce is spilt! (8) NUISANCE*

2   King leaves Scottish island after taking some tincture for eye problem (4) STYE S(-k+(Ti...e)}TYE

3   Stewed and pickled isn’t OK... confused? (6) STINKO*

4   Abandon what one might do after untying the painter (4,3) CAST OFF [DD]

5   Without commencing stamp cancellations, get currency in erstwhile GDR (8) OSTMARKS pOSTMARKS

6   Talent is present (4) GIFT [DD]

9   Injection sent back in same needle (5) ENEMA [T<=]

13 Dark time near end of twilight (5) NIGHT {NIGH}{t...hT} &lit

15 Six Romans and Romeo try celestial maiden? (5) VIRGO {VI}{R}{GO}

17 Keeps away from wild ass at bin (8) ABSTAINS*

19 Fought winged creature in endless comedy (8) COMBATED {COM{BAT}EDy}

20 Old boy’s ditty about one side of a coin... (7) OBVERSE {OB}{VERSE}

22 Animals in Miramar Estate (5) MARES [T]

24 Madly speed around circle and throw out from seat (6) DEPOSE {DEP{O}SE*}

26 Cast away laws (4) ACTS*

28 Southern bed for highlander (4) SCOT {S}{COT}

Reference List

Sappers = RE(Royal Engineers), Ship = SS, Journalist = ED, Piano = P, King = K, Romeo = R, Old Boy = OB, Southern = S