Financial Times 17,792 by JULIUS

A stout challenge from JULIUS this Friday.

FF: 9 DD: 9

I needed help from the internet to get past a couple of clues.

ACROSS
1	PETTIFOGGERY	Foreign Office probes favourite chum of Pooh — the ultimate in silly, fussy quibbling (12)
		[ FO ( Foreign Office ) in PET ( favourite ) TIGGER ( chum of pooh ) ] Y ( sillY, last letter )
10	SAD SACK	Sorry to fire inept person in the US (3,4)
		SAD ( sorry ) SACK ( fire )
11	IMPASTO	Heavy–handed coverage of art history is boring in my opinion (7)
		PAST ( history ) in IMO ( In My Opinion )
12	RIOJA	Major firm from the east made completely free wine (5)
		reverse of “mAJOr fIRm..” ( made completely free, without end characters )
13	WELSHMAN	Bloke from Rhyl killed retired assassin? Leave it out! (8)
		[ reverse of SLEW ( killed ) ] HitMAN ( assassin, without IT )
15	THE VATICAN	See part of Rome? (3,7)
		cryptic def? its not a part of rome but is contained in the geographic landmass
16	SKIN	Peel knicks off (not Calvin Klein) (4)
		[ KNIckS ( without CK – Calvin Klein ) ]*
18	EGAD	Red Guards regularly let out mild oath (4)
		alternate letters of “rEd GuArDs..”
20	REFERENDUM	Judge expressing hesitation twice about final vote (10)
		REF ( judge ) [ ER UM ( hesitation, twice ) about END ( final ) ]
22	OLIVE OYL	Serve, volley: 1-0. That’ll get girl animated! (5,3)
		[ VOLLEY I (1) O (0) ]* ; popeye’s so
24	CAPON	Notorious gangster shot English fowl (5)
		CAPONe ( notorious gangster, without E – english )
26	PLATEAU	Dad guzzling large cuppa at university High Table (7)
		[ PA ( dad ) containing L ( large ) ] TEA ( cuppa ) U ( university )
27	COLOSSI	Company deficit initially indicated as ‘huge figures’ (7)
		CO ( company ) LOSS ( deficit ) I ( Indicated, first letter )
28	ASTI SPUMANTE	French aperitif Penny sent back — sounds like you meant rough Italian wine (4,8)
		[ pASTIS ( french aperitif, with P – penny moving to the end ) ] U ( sounds like you ) [ MEANT ]*
DOWN
2	END ZONE	Jets might touch down in this area (3,4)
		cryptic def; new york jets
3	TEARAWAY	Young rebel artist finally resembling Van Gogh? (8)
		T ( artisT, last letter ) EAR AWAY ( resembling van gogh )
4	FAKE	Alaska invested in iron forge (4)
		AK ( alaska ) in FE ( iron )
5	GRIPE WATER	Suffering, I get pre-war remedy for colic (5,5)
		[ I GET PRE-WAR ]*
6	EXPOS	Former model spurns European trade fairs (5)
		EX ( former ) POSe ( model, without E – european )
7	YASHMAK	A bit of grey ash making a veil (7)
		hidden in “..greY ASH MAKing..”
8	ESPRIT DE CORPS	Directors uneasy with Pep’s team’s vibe (6,2,5)
		[ DIRECTORS PEP’S ]*
9	MOANING MINNIE	Driver filmed holding up M1 gonna become furious, she’s always whinging! (7,6)
		MINNIE ( driver, filmed i.e. the actress ) after [ MI ( M1 ) GONNA ]*
14	MISERY GUTS	Tight-wad bad guy Eliot who’s never happy (6,4)
		MISER ( tight-was ) [ GUY ]* TS ( eliot )
17	MEA CULPA	Some chap Luca employed turned up, admitting guilt (3,5)
		hidden, reversed in “..chAP LUCA EMployed..”
19	ALI BABA	Legendary Arab who’s booked the greatest airline twice? (3,4)
		ALI ( the greatest ) BA BA ( airline, twice ) ; i took ‘who’s booked’ to indicate answer is from a story book
21	DEPOSIT	Lodge uplifting opinion piece on Saint Independent featured (7)
		reverse of OP-ED ( opinion piece ) [ I ( independent ) in ST ( saint ) ]
23	EVENT	Still time for competition (5)
		EVEN ( still ) T ( time )
25	ECRU	City game that’s greyish to look at? (4)
		EC ( city ) RU ( game )

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