No 13870, Saturday 20 May 2023, Afterdark

ACROSS

9   Reach a church one day before (7) ACHIEVE {A}{CH}{1}{EVE}

10 Plant a crook in telephone exchange at the beginning (7) ACONITE {A}{CON}{In}{Te...e}{Ex...e}

11 Floating leaf is little, found on yard at home (4,3) LILY PAD {LIL}{Y}{PAD}

12 Intense listener at shelter (7) EARNEST {EAR}{NEST}

13 Herb's girl - we eloped on vacation (9) CHICKWEED {CHICK}{WE}{El..eD}

15 Betray great artist to guards (5) GRASS {G}{RA}{SS}

16 Taint becomes paint if troy becomes volume (7) TARNISH (-v+t)TARNISH

19 Plant gets memory by constant working (7) RAMPION {RAM}{PI}{ON}

20 One is primarily evasive with Herb (5) ANISE {AN}{IS}{Ev...e}

21 Stomach or another organ ingested small plant (5,4) BEARS FOOT {BEAR}{FOOT} over {S}

25 American helps to remove some seed at yard and plant (7) SUCCORY {SUCCORs}{Y}

26 Japan university agent returned to plant (7) JUNIPER {J}{UNI}{REP<=}

28 Takes care of power at academy and lets out (7) PARENTS {P}{A}{RENTS}

29 In Japan, there's money in a type of grass and pepper (7) CAYENNE {CA{YEN}NE}

DOWN

1   Roman Catholic girl cooking a flowering plant... (6) GARLIC {AC+GIRL}* Seems to be an error here. RC instead of AC

2   ...a fruit to keep spirit around the sick (6) CHILLI {CH{ILL}I}

3   Cavernous river originating at Panama (4) DEEP {DEE}{Pa...a}

4   Interfere in field Demonte set up (6) MEDDLE [T<=]

5   After commencement, at Neverland, set up a plant (8) LAVENDER nEVERLAND*

6   Scrabble & Monopoly? Fed up they say, ladies it's good not dead (5,5) BOARD GAMES {(~bored)BOARD}{(-d+g)GAMES}

7   Academics are drunk on daytime at institute (8) LITERATI {LIT}{ERA}{T}{I}

8   Get rid of plane perhaps it's on a state of disrepair (8) JETTISON {JET}{ITS+ON}*

14 The sharp end is on pinkie fit to scoop out the middle and mutilate (10) KNIFEPOINT {ON+PINKIE+FiT}*

16 Wing in church, 28 assemble on time (8) TRANSEPT {PARENTS*}{T}

17 Discount provision for transport given by king's radical reform (8) RAILCARD {R}{RADICAL*}

18 Say, philatelist hits boy because in the beginning(was) problematic (8) HOBBYIST {HITS+BOY+Be...e}*

22 Sailor caught in rush at base (6) ABJECT {AB}{JE{C}T}

23 Gold is on a tree or plant? (6) ORPINE {OR}{PINE}

24 A small tower at the entrance of Tuticorin, old city on edge of Tamilnadu (6) TURRET {Tu...n}{UR}{RE}{Ta...u}

27 Negative votes? Na, yes without substance (4) NAYS {NA}{YeS}

Reference List

Church = CH, Crook = CON, Yard = Y, Great = G, Artist = RA, Guards = SS, Troy = T, Volume = V, Constant = PI, Small = S, Japan = J, University = UNI, Power = P, Academy = A, Spirit = CHI, Good = G, Dead = D, Drunk = LIT, Day = ERA, Time = T, Institute = I, King = R, Sailor = AB, Caught = C, Old city = UR, on = RE