Plenty of bread and butter stuff, including a liberal sprinkling of double definitions in the downs. I think I was fortunate in that I had pretty much instant recall of the handful of obscurities tucked away in the clues (e.g. in 11A or 6D).
Across
1 JACKSON POLLOCK – Jacks + on[-e] + pollock. The subject of a recent Listener puzzle. Jacks = “game” (it’s that silly catch-and-pick-up game that I always seemed to end up getting in my Xmas cracker as a kid.
10 PYLON – P + (only)*
11 PRESBYTER – by in Prester. Prester John can almost be though of as the medieval equivalent of a comic book hero.
12 OUTRAGE – out + r + age
13 SECONDO – i.e. first O, second O, …
14 TANGO – tan + go
16 STATUETTE – (Tue +t) in state
19 ALEXANDRA – Alexandria -i. Coincidentally this one cropped up in the Times a week or so ago.
20 ERODE – rod in E[-astbourn]e
22 TEACHER – ache in ter[-m]. Probably a sentiment that a plenty of school staff can sympathise with at this time of year.
25 IMPASSE – Pa’s in (semi)*
27 EYEBRIGHT – eye + bright
28 NOOSE – soon< + [mous]e
29 PONTEFRACT CAKE – (pocket can after)*. Never eaten one, and was unfamiliar with the definition (“pomfret”). But the anagram fodder was obvious and the cross-checking generous.
Down
2 ALL AT ONCE – C in all + at one.
3 KENYA – E in (Yank)*. “Yank abroad touring East African country”. Don’t forget to register first.
4 OPPRESSED – Op. + press ed
5 PEERS – double def’n
6 LOBSCOUSE – (cobs)* in louse. A meat stew; its popularity with seafaring types ultimately provided the derivation of “Scouser” for Liverpudlians.
7 ORTON – hidden
8 KARAOKE – KA + (Korean)* – I assume that KA is the vehicle registration code for Cambodia (via the alias Kampuchea).
9 SPROUT – r[-oot] in spout
15 ON A CHARGE – double def’n.
17 ATAVISTIC – Avis in attic
18 TOOK STOCK – double def’n.
19 ANTWERP – (new part)*. Probably the most lowest profile city to have ever hosted the Summer Olympics.
21 ELEVEN – el + even.
23 ATE IN – [-Cok]e in (a tin)
24 ROGER – double def’n
26 PANIC – double def’n. Relating to Pan…