Sorry I’m late – I had some work that steadfastly refused to do itself. A very nice little puzzle, this one, I thought; not too tough (thankfully) but full of wit and imagination. Thank-you, Orense.
ACROSS
1. BIGAMOUS Big [great] + amours [love affairs] minus r(ight)
5. TRYING Double definition
10. CUTIS I [iodine] within cuts [lacerations]
11. HEAD START Head’s [boss’s] + tart [bitter]
12. PREVAILED P [piano, quiet] + rev [Reverend, man of the church] + ailed [suffered]
13. ICE UP (Minc)e within I [one, single] cup [container]
14. SINEWS I [one] + new [fresh] within SS [ship, i.e. ‘on board’]
15. DYNASTS Anagram of stands by minus b(elief)
18. MIGRATE MiG [Russian aircraft] + rate [cost]
20. AVOCET AV [Authorised Version, i.e. Bible, i.e. books] + first letters of Only Cover Eagles Tracing
22. LEVEL I think this is just a double definition – but am not sure how ‘about’ fits in (to ‘level with someone’ is to ‘come clean’ but not to ‘come clean about’)
24. UPHOLSTER Up [leading] + holster [gun emplacement…]
25. CONDUCTOR Double definition, using the electrical and orchestral senses of the word
26. TACKS Sounds like tax [duty]
27. THEISM I’s [one’s] within them [those people]
28. IDLENESS (H)i(s) + anagram of endless
DOWN
1. BICEPS Cryptic (but not very cryptic) definition
2. GUTTERING G(ood) + utte(r) [complete] + ring [circle]
3. MASSAGE PARLOURS Anagram of maple sugar soars
4. UPHOLDS Hold [grip] within ups [increases]
6. RUSSIAN ROULETTE Russian [such as Josef Stalin – though wasn’t Stalin a Georgian?] + let [permitted] within route [itinerary]
7. IMAGE Mag [magazine, periodical] within i.e. [id est, that is]
8. GATEPOST Double definition, alluding to the phrase ‘Just between you, me and the gatepost’
9. CANDID Can [prison] + did [was enough, sufficed]
16. SPECTACLE Hidden in inSPECT A CLEarly
17. IMPLICIT I [one] + MP [Member of Parliament, person elected] + licit [legitimate]
19. EQUITY Quit [stop] within e(mergenc)y; Equity is the British actors’ union
20. ADHERED Here [present] within anagram of dad
21. GRASPS R [right] within gasps [pants]
23. VENUE Avenue [approach] minus A
Thanks Orense for a pleasant crossword and Ringo for the blog.
22ac: Given that the answer is a palindrome, you could justify “about” as a reversal indicator. I very much doubt that Orense meant it that way, but it would be a beautifully subtle touch if he did.
Thanks Ringo and Orense. I agree with everything you’ve said, though I parsed 20a as AV and OT, containing c(over) e(agles). Your version makes much better sense!