Beelzebub 1,235 – Fifteensquared

A fairly tough week, I think, judging by the amount of cheating I had to do towards the end. 3dn still evades my best attempts to explain it.

The grid seemed to fill up from the outside in this week, which seemed unusual. On blogging I also notice a remarkable number of abbreviations in the wordplay, but still, good stuff from Beelzebub as always.

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.

Across
1	KNOW THE ROPES – (W in KNOT) + (O in HERPES).
10	RICOCHET – (Co in RICH) + E.T.
11	AGAINST – AGA + IN + ST.
13	COSTA – COST + A[pproach].
14	TIERCE – TIER + CE.
15	CORSAIR – COR + S + AIR.
16	YIPPER – (REP + PI + Y)<.
17	EMESIS – I in (E + MESS).
18	MARSHY – MAR + SHY.
20	PARAPH – RAP in PAH. A flourish after a signature, I learn.
23	TEACH-IN – TEA + CHIN.
25	ROSTOV – R + OS + TO + V. I spent ages wondering if ROSTOC was a place. It isn’t, of course.
26	OCCUR – CO< + CUR.
27	CHIKARA – KA in CHAIR*. A recent occurrence in Inquisitor led me to write in CITHARA with some confidence but little understanding, which held me up for a while.
28	SKIN-DEEP – KIND in SEEP.
29	KING OF METALS – KIN + (MATES FLOG)*.

Down
1	KNACKY – AC + K[i]NKY.
2	NEGOTIATOR – (GOT + I) in (NET + OR).
3	WAIT UP – I can’t quite parse this, though I think I see where it’s going: Worship enthralling demigod? Slow down.
4	HISTORY – HIST + ORY[x].
5	ROTIS – ROT + [d]IS[h]. Perfect with curried goat.
6	OCREAE – O + CREA[s]E.
7	PHARISAICAL – (H in PARIS) + (CA in AIL).
8	STRESS – S[afe] + TRESS.
9	VASOPRESSIN – (PASS OVER)* + SIN.
12	SCRIPTURAL – (CURL IS PART)*.
17	EPITHEM – PITH in [d]EEM.
18	MORISK – MO + RISK. I suspect this is the origin of the name given to the Morris dance.
19	SATANG – SATAN + G.
21	RACKET – double definition, I think.
22	HARASS – RAS in HAS.
24	CONDO – CON + DO.

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