No 11078, Wednesday 07 May 2014, Klue Klux Klan

ACROSS
1   Good man, returning from party at German prisoner-of-war camp (6) STALAG {ST}{ALAG<=}

                                                                                               Cartoon by Rishi

4   Amble, from start to finish, with mountain creatures (6) TROLLS (-s)TROLL(+s)S
9   Aquatic organisms lose heart, grow wings (4) ALAE ALgAE
10 Admitting heartless yahoo into urgent matters (10) PROFESSING {PR{OaF}ESSING}
11 Hesitate to replace head of one of the two with dummy head (6) DITHER (-e+d)DITHER
12 Greek God protects Israel from gradual destructions (8) EROSIONS {ERO{SION}S}
13 Awareness of one surrounded by doom (9) SENTIENCE {SENT{I}ENCE}
15 Speculate patron’s unfinished origin story (5) GUESS {GUESt}{Story}
16 Frighten Southern fish, cut off tail with knife finally (5) SCARE {S}{CARp}{knifE}
18 Made irate face at restaurant (9) CAFETERIA*
22 This outbreak occurred when pigs took flight, we hear (5,3) SWINE FLU {SWINE} {FLU}(~flew)

... THE NEW TERRORISM ...

23 Noisy quarrel between a couple of followers and fish? (6) AFFRAY {A}{FF}{RAY}
25 German woman, partly dull, assisted criminal (10) FRAUDULENT {FRAU}{DUll}{LENT}
26 Cook taking single off main… (4) CHEF CHiEF
27 ...fast bowler residing in Chinese America (6) SEAMER [T]
28 Censures element from beginning to end (6) ODIUMS (-s)ODIUM(+s)S

DOWN
1   Father protect a lean toddler initially with cross (7) SALTIRE {S{A}{L}{T}IRE}

2   Character of beer indicates acidity level (5) ALEPH {ALE}{pH}
3   Defame regular boys intrinsically (7) ASPERSE {lAdS}{PER SE}
5   Maker of apparel for antelope (6) REEBOK [DD]
6   Sluggishness of girl regularly into headless guy (9) LASSITUDE {LASS}{InTo}{dUDE}
7   Sounds made by boy and his relatives lack unity initially (7) SONANTS {SON}{AuNTS}
8   Classifications of dreadful, unclean metros (13) NOMENCLATURES*
14 Spider natural at traumatizing… (9) TARANTULA* &lit

17 … deserters in firm’s divisions (7) COWARDS {CO}{WARDS}

19 Precise journalist insisted on… (7) EXACTED {EXACT}{ED}
20 … national leader leaving minarets to make Turkish hostels (7) IMARETS MInARETS*
21 Pour out from bottom the iron melt (6) EFFUSE {EF<=}{FUSE}
24 Scarf found in specific hutments (5) FICHU [T]

No.11077, Tuesday 06 May 2014, Skulldugger

Easier than usual, exspecially once you catch on to the theme. We can only Marvel at this universe of

X men

ACROSS
1 Be amazed at incredible Maglev exhibiting resistance for gravity (6) MARVEL (MAGLEV+R-G)*
4 Shrunken appendages: what remains when the flames have died (6) EMBERS (mEMBERS) If the light was Members, it would a theme word
9 ….but Lyon’s in disarray (4) ONLY (LYON)*
10 Stylish radical embraced Christopher with excitement (10) SKITTISHLY (STYLISH* embraced KIT)
11 Device that made portraitists redundant arrived with artist? (6) CAMERA (CAME RA) &LIT
12 Coarse, manhandling North Dakota male wanting a bit of torn skin (8) HANGNAIL (MANHANDLING-ND-M)*
13 Reportedly, any system of organized knowledge breeds ignorance (9) NESCIENCE (~ANY, pronounced as "EN-E"= NE SCIENCE)
          Describes my level of knowledge of the X Men. Had to take old Wiki's help. Please let me know if I have missed highlighting any themed words ...
15 Cheating aids used in Indian college (4) DIAS (AIDS)* I am not sure if SD intended this. If so, rather obscure, I think BITS (DD) See comments
16 Seatrain regularly carries South Indian apparel (4) SARI (SeAtRaIn) Don't North, West and East Indians wear it? Maybe the West Indians don't ...
17 Old firearm manifests jam after it produces fire (9) MATCHLOCK (LOCK after MATCH)
21 On which a lush may light (8) BARSTOOL CD
          Or even fall between them ...
22 Provides 5 crates (6) CATERS (CRATES*) Rare that anagram indicator is pointed through a clue number - 5=mutant
24 Storm in, tie dishevelled, and perform services (8,2) MINISTER TO (STORM IN TIE)* Strictly perform services would be minister ...
25 Cross individual member of superhero squad (1-3) X-MAN (X MAN)
26 Wolverine, embracing Zen, finally turns to fruit (6) LONGAN (LOGAN embracing N)
27 Korean rapper has revolutionary mind (6) PSYCHE (PSY CHE)
          In line with the theme? Gangman style? Sorry, Gangnam style

DOWN
1 Magneto’s characters featured in a series of pictures (7) MONTAGE (MAGNETO*)
2 Song by pioneers of rock has young metal-heads excited (5) RHYME (R H Y M E)
3 Net measures new parcel of land (7) ENSNARE (ENS N ARE)
5 Freakishly abnormal dog ripped shirt off social worker (6) MUTANT (MUTT-T ANT)
6 Stan Lee is original and indispensable (9) ESSENTIAL (STAN LEE IS)*
7 Personality I met obsessed essentially with narcissistic images (7) SELFIES (SELF I ES
8 25 small earthworms (13) NIGHTCRAWLERS (NIGHTCRAWLER S)
14 Person of the book is 25? (9) CHRISTIAN (CD,DD) An X man = Christian, a man who follows the Cross)
          I remembered my study of religious jurisprudence, where the religions of the world are classified as "Kitabat" (People of the book) and others
16 Canadian national, wanting canine, went into special pound for a pooch (7) SPANIEL (CANINE-CN in SP L)
18 25,250 brief operations to contain malignancy in the end (7) CYCLOPS (CCL OPS containing Y)
19 Hearty squeeze given to legendary flier from the South! (7) CORDATE (ROC< DATE=squeeze, in slang...)
20 Black-market goods gang exterminated by Nicaraguan rebel (6) CONTRA (CONTRAband)
23 Reportedly speak ill of Britney’s work (5) TOXIC (~TALK SICK)