No 13831, Wednesday 05 Apr 2023, Arden

Solution to 5A 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   Calm inside, forces deployed outside (8) ALFRESCO {cALm}{FORCES*}

5   A religious double crosser - second to go I see (6) ?U?A?C (Addendum - JUDAIC {JUDAs}{IC} - See comments)

10 Phantom, about time he is brought in (7) CHIMERA {C}{HIM}{ERA}

11 Flowering plant - part of the plant not with Britain, with America (7) ANCHUSA {brANCH}{USA}

12 Not daytime number - starting off by 90 degrees (5) NIGHT {N}{rIGHT} (Correction - (-e+n)NIGHT - See comments)

13 Tales about fish hunter, they're big draws (9) LOTTERIES {L{OTTER}IES}

14 Can America impound a ship? Only when cranky (12) CANTANKEROUS {CAN}{TANKER}{O}{US}

18 Early South American lineage, is brilliant (12) INCANDESCENT {INCAN}{DESCENT}

21 Turning blue, agree likely to cause lot of problems (9) BELEAGUER*

23 Burger without filling - one or two? (5) BRACE {Bu..eR}{ACE}

24 Attempts to acquire financial banks - they don't amount to much (7) TRIFLES {TRI{Fi...aL}ES}

25 Event on record, is on song (7) EPISODE {EP}{IS}{ODE}

26 "Paternal kinsman", finally written in stone (6) AGNATE {AGA{w...eN}ATE}

27 Fun with English characters - disregarding national borders for Chinese geomancy (4,4) FENG SHUI {FUN+EnGlISH}*

DOWN

1   Concealed amidst the sugarcane fronds (6) ARCANE [T]

2   Border - last Australian in grief, sadly (6) FRINGE {FRI{a...aN}GE*}

3   Problem with sore retina? Yes, inside (9) EYESTRAIN {E{YES}TRAIN*}

4   Rochester and Tulsa set for the last course (9,5) CHARLOTTE RUSSE {ROCHESTER+TULSA}*

6   One's relatively dirty, one has to go (5) UNCLE UNCLEan

7   Indian mallow used for ablution, perhaps (8) ABUTILON*

8   Fool in summit, most offensive (8) CRASSEST {CR{ASS}EST}

9   Minor actresses cast in movies he makes (6,8) MARTIN SCORSESE*

15 Honouring one from south - accepts new jewellery (9) ENNOBLING {ON{N}E<=}{BLING}

16 Act a bit, making a kind of bread (8) CIABATTA {ACT+A+BIT}*{A}

17 In part of Mumbai pick a servant to work in the kitchen (8) SCULLION {S{CULL}ION}

19 Going around a lake in my footwear (6) GALOSH {G{A}{L}OSH}

20 Confine me, yet some of them raise a subject (6) YEMENI [T<=]

22 Distribute vote, billions gone! (5) ALLOT bALLOT

Reference List

Second = S. I see = IC, About = C, Britian = BR, Number = N, Only = O, Record = EP(Extended play), New = N, Pick = CULL, Lake = L, My = GOSH, Billions = B