CRYPTIC #24417

ACROSS

1 Not entirely versatile shrub (6) 4 Was first to spot such a mysterious

band (8) 10 Scientific instrument bathed city in

a flickering light (9) 11 One hand-picked foreign leader accepts our country in recession (5) 12 Rudder control commonly made of

wood (3) 13 Sometimes there’s nobody taking

turn round porch (4,3,4) 14 Fertiliser feeble if tinned? (6) 16 Keepin’ on round one bend (7) 19 Abroad, what fills role? I’m floored (7) 20 In place of darkness finding east a puzzle (6) 22 Roughly sprawled, despite wearing this on boot, up here? (7,4) 25 Starts on free range egg? Has not to (3) 26 Refuse to admit scruffy beard (5) 27 Terrified by a street fight involving us as subject (9) 28 More unnerving to see one strangled by ivy (8) 29 Prayer to have old leader released from confinement (6)

DOWN

1 Soft bed for contestant (6) 2 Given long line to erect, am struggling (9) 3 Cry freely, raising volume at end of tirade (5) 5 Did they struggle in atelier, perhaps? (3-11) 6 Tricked, and no mistake, in hearing meteorite (9) 7 I had left range without compare (5) 8 Leading man I don’t cast (8) 9 Bearing her absence? (9,5) 15 This may take the Mickey out of subject of play (9) 17 Remarkable surplus of leisure wear (4,5) 18 In parts, poem is about one jocular lawgiver (8) 21 One could barely finish Hamlet (6) 23 Fit to cover miles in walk (5) 24 Go into the middle of America — it’s not cold (5)