Financial Times 13,960 by Falcon

A fair and challenging puzzle – 6a and 8d being trickiest

ACROSS

1 HOT PANTS  HOT powerful P games played (cricket) ANTS workers

6 BOTTOM bed (river, ocean) (MOTTO saw B bishop)<

9 RED TOP tabloid RED socialist TOP premier

10 RAG TRADE dd Rag Trade won Grand National in 1976

11 STUN shock NUTS<

12 LITERATURE TU trade union in (RETAILER)*

14 FORSOOTH in truth FOR(SHOOT)*

16 TURN dd

18 ASIA AS when I one A answer

19 NONSENSE balderdash O love in NN SENSE understanding

21 FUNDRAISER charity do D date in FUN RAISER joker

22 LEAD dd

24 AIRDALE dog AIR show first in Eden E DALE valley

26 ACUITY perception U in A CITY

27 TYRANT T[ouch]Y RANT hold forth

28 SHEPHERD Corydon was shepherd’s name in Theocritus and Virgil

[German] shepherd dog

DOWN

2 OVERT clear OVER above T[ower]

3,13 PUT ONES HAND TO THE PLOUGH means undertake a task – to till is to plough

4 NAPOLEON card game Napoleon Solo from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

5 STRETCH ONES LEGS exercise STRETCH period EG say in (LESSON)*

6 BOGART actor BOG john US ART method

7 TAR sailor  hidden in cosTA Rica

8 ORDER ARMS military command  ORDER class ARMS member

15 OBSCURITY darkness (RUSTIC BOY)*

17 INCREASE IN CREASE fold

20 VACANT empty CAN in VAT

23 ACTOR player [f]ACTOR agent

25 ERA age hidden in gERAldine

( )* = anagram   [ ] = omit    < = reverse   dd = double definition