No 13190, Tuesday 09 Mar 2021, Afterdark

Solution to 27D 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

9   I entered work almost after crook was in passage (7) CONDUIT {DU{I}Ty}{<=>{CON}

10 Love in Paris? To be loved is hard (7) CHERISH {CHER}{IS}{H}

11 A small part in action was taken away (7) DEBITED {DE{BIT}ED}

12 Process of mountain formation is gory on environment primarily; shattering (7) OROGENY {GORY+ON+En...t}*

13 Improvement day amongst soldiers after a time (9) AMENDMENT {A}{MEN}{D}{MEN}{T}

15 Ex UN Chief is a non-aligned national (5) ANNAN {AN}{NA}{N}

16 Violinist is a clerk, maintains days and dates (7) FIDDLER {FI{D}{D}LER}

19 Capital is caught in cold, terrible extremes of weather (7) CLIMATE {C}{LIMA}{Te...lE}

20 A part below is broken (5) ELBOW*

21 Rookies exist to have a drink, no hesitation taking second (9) BEGINNERS {BE}{GIN}{N}{ER}{S}

25 Colour of deserted boat? Maroon maybe (4,3) DARK RED {D}{ARK}{RED}

26 Little calculators as part of board game (7) LADDERS {L}{ADDERS}

28 Correct, examine first and readjust (7) READAPT {APT}<=>{READ}

29 Chaos as animal is getting right inside (7) MISRULE {M{IS}{R}ULE}

DOWN

1   Say, university sent me off to a Canadian region (6) ACADIA ACADemIA

2   It’s rational to take time off and empower (6) ENABLE tENABLE

3   Dog’s tense and gruff (4) CURT {CUR}{T}

4   Spots counter to get good bite of ethnic nutrition (6) STODGE {DOTS<=}{G}{Et...c}

5   A clue right on, simple to infer: crack (8) ACROSTIC Acrostic &lit

6   Award for last month’s speech (10) DECORATION {DEC}{ORATION}

7   A boy held by that woman in a confused state: Ireland maybe (8) HIBERNIA {H{1}{B}ER}{IN+A}*

8   American state capital is NY? Hence managing to smuggle drug (8) CHEYENNE {NY+HENCE}* over {E}

14 Someone from Dover or Delhi’s attentive picking a news (10) DELAWAREAN {DEL}{AWARE}{A}{N}

16 Maybe slips free, is loved to extremes in a way (8) FIELDERS {FREE+IS+LoveD}*

17 Dog’s date of birth, guy gives after hesitation (8) DOBERMAN {DOB}{ER}{MAN}

18 Uncontrollable state in bar fight, I’d get caught out in city (8) RABIDITY {BAR*}{ID}{cITY}

22 A device to get light by midnight at college (1,5) G CLAMP {niGht}{C}{LAMP}

23 Stretch, almost keep nothing posh over time (3,3) EKE OUT {KEEp}*{0}{U}{T} What's the anagram indicator?

24 Heartless, silly to stop practice (6) SYSTEM {SillY}{STEM}

27 Bureau concludes; kill to capture (4) D?S? (Addendum - DESK [T] - See comments)

Reference List

To be loved in French = CHER, Hard = H, Day = D, Time = T, National = N, Date = D, Cold = C, No = N, Second = S, Deserted = D, Little = L, Right = R, Tense = T, Good = G, Boy = B, Drug = E, Delhi = DEL, News = N, Caught = C, College = C, Posh = U