No 13289, Friday 02 Jul 2021, Arden

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.

ACROSS

1   Cheese sandwiches — admit marks as award for good deeds (7,6)

10 Ultimate plan — I feel it should be reviewed partly (5)

11 First America, then China gets limited approval rating (9)

12 I've it, rate variation can be done over and over again (9)

13 Children taking ordinary drugs (5)

14 Rates as one of 16 is laid low (7)

16 Overtime rates disheartened these beasts of burden (7)

18 Does after they’re dead, say (7)

20 One maybe insecure, get nicely covered up (7)

22 Openers often score centuries and regularly get award (5)

24 Rock singer’s over aged, making fusion (9)

26 Never agree to give up a hybrid plant (9)

27 Not even once speech was curtailed on a numerical system (5)

28 I hear “freeze” — that means, having some doubts (13)

DOWN

2   Substitutes some plants (7)

3   Women followed by all the children — not bad start for these Australian residents (9)

4   National freedom fighters quit at regular intervals (5)

5   Wrong apperception, shunning cat food (9)

6   Some start panicking while climbing, that’s not right (5)

7   So angry, remove hard material (7)

8   Flower’s Victorian, leaf may be different (7,6)

9   Students grapple with lesson in political science (5,8)

15 Makes sense, change comes with aging (9)

17 Set thermostat right away to maximum (2,3,4)

19 New cryptic clue on some small matter (7)

21 Corn — leave the outer part, it’s tough to chew (7)

23 Force to stop a rake and villain (5)

25 Italian set it over a verandah (5)

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

ACROSS

1   Cheese sandwiches — admit marks as award for good deeds (7,6) BROWNIE POINTS {BR{OWN}IE}{POINTS}

10 Ultimate plan — I feel it should be reviewed partly (5) FINAL [T<=]

11 First America, then China gets limited approval rating (9) APPRAISAL {Am...a}{P{PRAISe}AL} {China=Mate(Rhyming slang)=Pal)

12 I've it, rate variation can be done over and over again (9) ITERATIVE*

13 Children taking ordinary drugs (5) TOOTS {TO{O}TS}

14 Rates as one of 16 is laid low (7) ASSAILS {ASS}{AILS}

16 Overtime rates disheartened these beasts of burden (7) ONAGERS {ON}{AGE}{RateS}

18 Does after they’re dead, say (7) VENISON [CD]

20 One maybe insecure, get nicely covered up (7) INTEGER [T<=]

22 Openers often score centuries and regularly get award (5) OSCAR Acrostic

24 Rock singer’s over aged, making fusion (9) SOLDERING {S{OLD}ERING*}

26 Never agree to give up a hybrid plant (9) EVERGREEN {NEVER+aGREE}*

27 Not even once speech was curtailed on a numerical system (5) OCTAL {OnCe}{TALk}

28 I hear “freeze” — that means, having some doubts (13) UNCERTAINTIES {(from frees)UNTIES) over {CERTAIN}

DOWN

2   Substitutes some plants (7) RUNNERS [DD]

3   Women followed by all the children — not bad start for these Australian residents (9) WALLABIES {W}{ALL}{bABIES}

4   National freedom fighters quit at regular intervals (5) IRAQI {IRA}{QuIt}

5   Wrong apperception, shunning cat food (9) PEPPERONI {aPPERcEPtION}*

6   Some start panicking while climbing, that’s not right (5) INAPT [T<=]

7   So angry, remove hard material (7) TUSSORE {ThUS}{SORE}

8   Flower’s Victorian, leaf may be different (7,6) AFRICAN VIOLET*

9   Students grapple with lesson in political science (5,8) CLASS STRUGGLE {CLASS}{STRUGGLE}

15 Makes sense, change comes with aging (9) SENESCENT {SENSE*}{CENT}

17 Set thermostat right away to maximum (2,3,4) AT THE MOST {THErMOSTAT}*

19 New cryptic clue on some small matter (7) NUCLEON  {N}{CLUE*}{ON}

21 Corn — leave the outer part, it’s tough to chew (7) GRISTLE {GRIST}{Le.vE}

23 Force to stop a rake and villain (5) ROGUE {ROU{G}E}

25 Italian set it over a verandah (5) LANAI {LANAI+IT = ITALIAN} [CA]

Reference List

Ordinary = O, Women = W, Hard = H, Right = R, New = N , Force = G(Gravity)