No 13202, Tuesday 23 Mar 2021, Arden

Solution to 12A 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   Do second language, start with German (7) SHINDIG {S}{HINDI}{G}

5   Show time — long to be outside (7) PAGEANT {P{AGE}ANT}

9   Herb returned shortly to America (5) SUMAC {CAMe}{US}<=

10 Love talk with naked lady (9) ADORATION {lADy}{ORATION}

11 Valet or cook — many afraid to leave midway (3,6) MAN FRIDAY {MANY+AFRaID}*

12 Leaders go to the bottom with crime detector (5) S?N?R (Addendum - SONAR (-ar)SON(+ar)AR - See comments)

13 Insect bite in reverse (4) GNAT<=

15 Quick inspection of cooperative banks on both sides (4-4) ONCE-OVER {Co...vE} in {ON} and {OVER}

18 Long term contract’s no good (8) DECADENT {DECADE}{NT}

19 Regularly read idea from Norse folklore (4) EDDA {rEaD+iDeA}

22 Spirit imbibed — get hospitalised (5) ETHOS [T]

24 Celebration for planetary transit over a grid, perhaps (5,4) MARDI GRAS {MAR{A+GRID}*S}

26 Genuine gold article and tin mixed about (9) AUTHENTIC {AU}{THE}{TIN*}{C}

27 Step in to include the horse (5) PINTO [T]

28 Decline in entrance to finish one off (7) GAROTTE {GA{ROT}TE}

29 Strange way to cover something prominent (7) SALIENT {S{ALIEN}T}

DOWN

1   Follow directions on identical oil producer (6) SESAME {S}{E}{SAME}

2   State of being inherent in men, came out (9) IMMANENCE*

3   Colour scheme inside corner room (5) DECOR [T]

4   “Thousand moons” — direction is awe-inspiring (9) GRANDIOSE {GRAND}{IO}{SE} (Correction {GRAND}{IOS}{E} - See comments)

5   A flower changes, in short, Penelope’s heart (5) PEONY PE(-n+o)ONY

6   Close to booming, boy’s voice reached a PM once (9) GLADSTONE {b...nG}{LADS}{TONE}

7   One’s right under, that’s strange (5) ALIEN {A}{LIEN}

8   Fish doctor’s intervention is plain (6) TUNDRA {TUN{DR}A}

14 Temporary accommodation, rain’s pouring in (9) TRANSIENT {T{RAINS}*ENT}

16 Complaints about laws broken by a sailor (9) CATARACTS {C}{A}{TAR}{ACTS}

17 Tolerance, with Cobalt correctly counterbalanced (9) ENDURANCE coUNtERbalANCED* [CA]

20 Atonement — church goes for good in the city (6) PENANG PENAN(-ce+G)G

21 Mad democrats - mad to accompany them (6) ESCORT dEmOCRaTS* [CA]

23 Heart problems? One doesn’t like it (5) HATER*

24 Most of the thing is dull (5) MATTE MATTEr

25 Force politician to get involved in raising some money (5) IMPEL {I{MP}EL<=}

Reference List

Second = S, German = G, Contract = NT (In Bridge), About = C, Sailor = TAR, Church = CE, Money = LEI