No 14228, Tuesday 16 Jul 2024, Afterdark

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.

Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

1   Winner's angry about deviants, essentially getting military award (8,5) VICTORIA CROSS {VICTOR}{devIAnts}{CROSS}

10 Electric circuit on roaster damaged overworking (9) RESONATOR* {RES{ON}ATOR*}

11 Poles are in a catch (5) SNARE {S}{N}{ARE}

12 Satisfy service-level agreement, take 50% discount (5) S?A?E (Addendum - SLAKE {SLA}{taKE} - See comments)

13 Full-time employee is independent, very sincere at work (2-7) IN-SERVICE {I+V+SINCERE}*

14 Scratching head, chemist turns to belief in god (6) THEISM cHEMIST*

16 Have dhal in the second half and meat (4) VEAL {haVE+dhAL}

19 Chinese idol in Japan kept by ordinary guards (4) JOSS {J}{O}{SS}

20 Old name of capital often opted by ruler (6) PEKING {oPtEd}{KING}

25 Knowledge about battle at Ukraine finally taken to head (9) AWARENESS {A}{WAR}{u...nE}{NESS}

26 Boorish son smothers one in victory (5) SWAIN {S}{W{A}IN} Is the definition okay?

27 Avoid backing Dave having drugs (5) EVADE {DAVE<=}{E} Drugs/Drug?

28 Application with no licence to operate hearse around Western Australia and Redmond primarily (9) SHAREWARE {HEARSE}* over {WA}{Re...d}

29 Offered to keep the essence gentle (13) TENDERHEARTED {TENDER{HEART}ED}

DOWN

2   Terrible side, naps to a large degree (2,6) IN SPADES*

3   100 + 9.5 unit of mass (5) TONNE {TON}{niNE}

4   Heartlessly coach again to remember (6) RETAIN RETrAIN

5   Irritating to see Victor in new air-base (8) ABRASIVE {V} in {AIR+BASE}*

6   Rescuer struggles to contain force and acceleration to come up again (9) RESURFACE {RESUR{F}{A}CE*}

7   Fixed attics in a hurry (6) STATIC*

8   Present? Not new, made in advance (6) PRESET PRESEnT

9   Number could be odd or this, small earlier (5) SEVEN {EVEN}<=>{S}

15 Completely lifeless notes composed by father after consuming drug (5-4) STONE-DEAD {NOTES*}{D{E}AD}

17 Behind every start, ship uses gold and an appraiser (8) ASSESSOR {ASS}{Ev..y}{SS}{OR}

18 Residence of a clergyman gets six cars nearly, on time (8) VICARAGE {VI}{CARs}{AGE}

21 Spice given for a drink at Germany (6) GINGER {GIN}{GER}

22 Provide auditor some time to get her head cleared (5) CATER {CA}{Time}{hER}

23 Able to take a small piece, basically excellent starter (6) CANAPE {CAN}{A}{Pi..e}{Ex...t}

24 West Indies cap earned held by Bolt (6) ESCAPE [T]

26 Sharp swing (5) SHEER [DD]

Reference List

Poles = S,N, Service-level agreement = SLA, Independent = I, Very = V, Japan = J, Ordinary = O, Guards = SS, About = A, Head = NESS, Son = S, Drug = E, Western Australia = WA, Victor = V, Force = F, Acceleration = A, New = N, Small = S, Ship = SS, Gold = OR