Quite straightforward today, nothing obscure or contentious and decent surfaces in the main.
Across
1 INVOCATION IN (trendy) VOCATION (career)
7 DHOW D (departs) HOW (in what manner)
9 ISIS [cr]ISIS (trouble loses credit)
10 NEBULOSITY *(BOUNTY LIES)
11 CRATER CRATE (jalopy) R (runs)
12 APOLLYON A POLLY (girl) ON (concerned)
13 FLAPJACK FLAP (stew) JACK (Ferrari supporter)
15 ACTS dd – Acts follows John in the New Testament
17 VEGA hidden in ‘actiVE GAlaxy’
19 NORSEMAN O[rchestra] in *(MANNERS)
22 DEATH ROW DE (Delaware) A (atomic) THROW (project)
23 COFFER homophone of ‘cougher’ (hacker)
25 STOCK STILL STOCKS (keeps) T (old Ford) ILL (laid up)
26 ARID A (article) RID (free)
27 HAIL dd
28 SWEETBREAD SWEET (dear) BREAD (money)
Down
2 NOSTRIL *(RIOTS) in NL (Netherlands) – ‘airport’ needs to be split into ‘air port’ as the definition
3 ONSET ON (working) SET (class)
4 ABNORMAL NORMA (operatic heroine) in A BL (barrel)
5 IN BLACK AND WHITE cd
6 NELSON dd
7 DISPLEASE PL (Poet Laureate) in DISEASE (illness)
8 OUTPOST OUT (dated) POST (mail)
14 PRACTICAL *(ARCTIC) in PAL (friend)
16 BRACELET BRACE (couple) LET (hire out)
18 ELECTRA *(TREACLE)
20 AMERICA AM (in the morning) ERICA (Heather)
21 GRASPS GR (Greek) ASPS (snakes)
24 FLAIR FL (sunshine state, Florida) AIR (utter)
Yes Gaufrid, quite a straightforward puzzle. Nothing contentious, perhaps nothing too exciting either? Thanks for a very accurate blog.
Not too difficult, esp liked INVOCATION and BRACELET. Thanks for explaining ACTS, I guessed that might be reason but was not sure.
I found this harder than usual for Armonie(not a complaint).
Struggled with 2 down until getting all the check letters and 12 across took me a while,even though I’ve read Pilgrim’s Progress a couple of times – retention is not what it was!
Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.
My first attempt at a weekday FT. I found this much harder than Saturday’s prize puzzle!
Jack = Ferrari supporter?
Barrel = BL? Atomic = A? PL = Poet Laureate? – Completely invented abbreviations, surely!
I also don’t understand why Heather = Erica.
Erica is the genus to which heather belongs.
Hi Richard
Scarpia has already explained the heather = erica (also ‘ling’ in crossword clues).
With regard to your other queries, jack as in the implement you use to raise a car when changing a wheel and the abbreviations can all be confirmed in Collins and/or Chambers.