A very nice puzzle. Traditional in style but not not old-fashioned in delivery. Thank you Leonidas.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PTERODACTYLS | Early birds in tight lycra spotted (12) |
| anagram (tight, drunk) of LYCRA SPOTTED – modern birds evolved form dinosaurs | ||
| 10 | ABRIDGE | Shorten bit of work maybe done by driller (7) |
| A BRIDGE (a bit of dental work) – a driller is a cryptic reference to a dentist | ||
| 11 | PICTURE | Imagine old Scot with an English flower (7) |
| PICT (old Scot) with URE (the River Ure, something that flows in England) | ||
| 12 | DEFER | Not all lemonade fermenting is put on ice (5) |
| found inside (not all of)lemonaDE FERmenting | ||
| 13 | DICTATOR | Castro perhaps adroit moving across court (8) |
| anagram (moving) of ADROIT contains (across) CT (court) | ||
| 15 | ABYSSINIAN | Former African who lived in the Gulf? (10) |
| an ABYSS-INIAN might be someone who lived in an abyss (gulf) | ||
| 16 | VEGA | Chill in the company of a star (4) |
| VEG (chill, relax) with (in the company of) A | ||
| 18 | AVID | Greedy duck taking egg (4) |
| AVoID (duck) missing, taking) O (an egg) | ||
| 20 | SHOESTRING | Lace small amount of dough (10) |
| double definition – dough is money | ||
| 22 | RUCKSACK | Hiker’s accessory in heap by fire (8) |
| RUCK (heap) then SACK (fire, from a job) | ||
| 24 | GLOOM | Grand Master holds game in darkness (5) |
| G (grand) M (master) contains LOO (card game, lanterloo) | ||
| 26 | SUBSUME | Incorporate transport for non-fliers returning (7) |
| EMU’S BUS (transport for non-fliers) reversed (returning) | ||
| 27 | CLARION | Trumpet band traverses South American city (7) |
| CLAN (band) contains (traverses, goes across) RIO (South American city) | ||
| 28 | SCHOPENHAUER | Philosopher School free to meet with Rutger? (12) |
| SCH (school) OPEN (free) with HAUER (Rutger Hauer perhaps, actor) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | THRIFTY | Prudent scrapping of price raised from £3.50? (7) |
| THRee fIFTY (£3.50) missing (scrapping of) FEE (price) reversed (raised) – very nice! | ||
| 3 | RED CROSS | Unwelcome mark on a paper flag (3,5) |
| double definition – a mark on an exam paper | ||
| 4, 23 | DEEP SOUTH | Pet housed around Alabama and Georgia etc. (4,5) |
| anagram (around) of PET HOUSED | ||
| 5 | CAPTIVATED | Lid drawn across container having held (10) |
| CAP (lid) TIED (drawn) contains (across) VAT (container) | ||
| 6 | YACHT | Safety ultimately caps number in German craft . . . . (5) |
| safetY (last letter, ultimately) on top pf (caps) ACHT (the number 8, in German) | ||
| 7 | SHUTTLE | . . . . ferry close to losing equilibrium initially (7) |
| SHUT (close) then first letters (initially) of To Losing Equilibrium | ||
| 8 | CARDIAC ARREST | An emergency rule Caracas tried to break (7,6) |
| anagram (to break) of R (rule) with CARACAS TRIED | ||
| 9 | REARRANGEMENT | Bring up oven before setter books alteration (13) |
| REAR (bring up) RANGE (oven) ME (the setter) and NT (New Testament, books) | ||
| 14 | ON THE CHEAP | Shifted phone each time at low cost (2,3,5) |
| anagram (shifted) of PHONE EACH T (time) | ||
| 17 | STIGMATA | Dump resident on rug area to see scars (8) |
| STIG (dump resident, Stig of the Dump chidren’s book) on MAT (rug) A (area) | ||
| 19 | INCUBUS | Tiny exposed copper statue detailed devil (7) |
| tINy (exposed, no outer letters) CU (copper) BUSt (statue, de-tailed) | ||
| 21 | IDOLISE | Worship in huge silo directed to the heavens (7) |
| found inside hugE SILO DIrected reversed (to the heavens, upwards in a down light) | ||
| 23 | See 4 | |
| 25 | SCAN | Butcher’s Special on top of container (4) |
| S (special) on CAN (container) – short for a butcher’s hook, rhyming slang for look | ||