Financial Times 13,848 / Falcon

A gentle puzzle with Falcon’s elegant clues and references to a variety of knowledge domains. Smooth anagrams, natural surfaces, nothing too taxing.

Across

1 EMBALM M (male) BA (graduate), in ELM (tree)
5 SAMPHIRE A MP (politician), in SHIRE (county); this coastal plant. A new word for me and, going by spell-check’s squiggly red line under the word in the compose blog post window, a new word for wordpress too.
9 PRETORIA (AIRPORT)* around [jun]E. The executive capital of the country, also nicknamed The Jacaranda City due to the multitude of Jacaranda trees in the city.”
10 LIAISE I (one) in LA (US city) IS E[ager]
11 GIGOLO GIG (carriage) OSLO (Norway’s capital) – S (son). For a nice change Norway’s capital is not “N”.
12 LEATHERY (THE EARLY)*. What a compact, well-written anagram.
14 AS OFTEN AS NOT dd
18,22 PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER 2 and 2 together = 22
25 PIGEON PIG (greedy eater) (ONE)*
26 STATUS STAT[e] (set out, briefly) US (American)
27 EMPHASIS [fiv]E (MISHAPS)*
28 PROPHECY PROP (support) HE (ambassador) CY (Cyprus)
29 RASHLY RASH (spots) L (learner driver) [Piccadill]Y

Down

2 MERLIN dd. The legendary magician who acted as advisor to King Arthur, and a small species of the bird that shares our setter’s name.
3 ASTRONAUT (TO SATURN A[pollo])*
4 MARCO POLO MAR (spoil) CO (county) POLO (game). 13th century Venetian traveller credited for “discovering the Orient”.
5 SCARLET CARL (boy) in SET (group)
6 MELBA M (married) ELBA (Mediterranian island). Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano opera singer.
7 HEATH HEAT (pressure) H (hot). Sir Edward Heath (1916 – 2005), British politician who served as PM of UK in 1970–74.
8 REST ROOM (RESORT)* O (old) M (short for Monsieur i.e. French man)
13 TEA TEA[l] (duck, cut short)
15 NOTEPAPER NOTE (put down, as in record) PAPER (daily)
16 SNODGRASS S (singular), DON (fellow) reversed, GRASS (informer). Augustus Snodgrass, a central character in The Pickwick Papers.
17 EUROSTAR (ROUE)* STAR (celebrity). Eurostar is a high-speed train service connecting London with Paris and Brussels.
20 NURSERY (N SURREY)*
21 JOVIAL J (Jack) O[pen] VIAL (bottle)
23 ESTOP [on]E ST (way) OP (work)
24 HASTE (HEATS)*