Financial Times 13,349 / Bradman

A pity that today’s puzzle decided to do an online impersonation of the Scarlet Pimpernel, as it’s worthy of a broader audience than it’ll probably end up receiving.  If anything, some answers in this puzzle are probably flirting with the upper end of the FT difficulty scale (I was unfamiliar with 18A and 24A, while 26A was beyond my ken completely).

Again, many thanks to Abu Amaal (see post #2) for stepping into the e-breach while the rest of us waited in vain for the FT website to start behaving itself.  Without his uploaded scan, I still wouldn’t be in a position even now to post this blog.

Across
1 BOOK CLUB – punning definition.
6 JALOPY – lop in jay.
9 RAFTER – re: Pat Rafter, who had the misfortune of repeatedly trying to win Wimbledon while Sampras was still in his pomp.
10 XANTHATE – hidden.
11 MESH – hidden.
12 INFLECTION – L[atin] in infection.
14 FIENDISH – (I end) in fish. Bradman flourishes his Church Times colours in delightful style.
16 ORLY- o + Rly.  Paris’ “second” airport, albeit less prone to structural collapse than Charles de Gaulle.
18 MANI – man +I.  An &lit, referring to the (unknown to me) founder of Manichaeism.
19 CRUZEIRO – cru + (i in zero). The predecessor of the Real, as Brazil’s currency.
21 ROCKABILLY – (lyric a bloke)* -e.
22 TESS – alternate letters.
24 MANTELET – man + te{nants} + let.
26 IPECAC – I + PE + c[aught] + a c[old].  The one that defeated me.  Its seems to be some sort of emetic “drug”.
27 ZAMBIA – (a + MB + I) in ZA (South Africa).
28 SWEATING – s{o}w + eating.

Down
2 OVATE – vat in OE.  A druidic type of “philosopher”.
3 KITCHEN SINK – (Itchen +s) in kink.  The River Itchen is the lesser known twin of that other, far more crossword-friendly, river – the Test.
4 LARRIKIN – RI in (Philip, the parent-respecting poet) Larkin.
5 BOX OF CHOCOLATES – (facecloth, sox? Boo!).
6 JUNKET – jnuk + et (Fr.).
7 LAH – la{s}h.
8 POTBOILER – (b + poor E.Lit)*.  An answer that seems to have cropped up frequently in recent months, after a long period of dormancy.  At least it lends itself to a plethora of different and original treatments.
13 TWO LEFT FEET – a pun on the old “right supremacist” put-down.
15 INAMORATA – In a mo’ + (a tar)<.
17 QUAYSIDE – homohone of “key sighed”.
20 ABELIA – ab[lack} + Elia (pseudonym of  Charles Lamb).
23 SPAIN – a in spin.
25 TAB – tab{let}.