Club Monthly 20201 – June 2017. A crossword for Kolboynicks?

I found this crossword a meaty challenge, considerably more difficult than some recent months, and got quite bogged down with the bottom half. Putting it aside for a day helped me get going again. I was relieved to get it all correct, unlike last month.
For some reason it seems to have quite a lot of Jewish vocabulary in it. I seldom get round to writing the blog until some time after completing the grid, and this always runs the risk of forgetting how to parse one of the answers .. at present I have no less than three I can’t parse, hopefully I will remember them as I go through:

Dictionaries: The Club Monthly uses several dictionaries. The main ones are the Concise Oxford Dictionary (COD), Collins, and Chambers. I use Chambers, the online Collins dictionary, and the ODO. I use the online Oxford English Dictionary occasionally too (OED), for background.

If I have not explained an answer fully enough, do please ask…
Please note that the closing date for entries for this prize crossword is the last Thursday of each month …

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev. = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated within “”

Across
1. Kernel from down under article put on antelope for one in desert (8-3)
Quandong-nut – quite a tricky one to start off with.. it is QUIT (desert), with the i replaced by AND + ON + GNU (antelope)
7. Maybe grass cutter is utterly pointless (3)
kif – K(n)IF(e), ie the points of the compass removed from a cutter..
9. Help with tux that has gold front round sides of cutaway (9)
adjuvancy – DJ (tuxedo) in AU (gold) + VAN (front), + C(utawa)Y
10. Korean city having no aspirations for oversized headgear from the east (5)
Taegu (h)UGE (h)AT, all rev. Since the year 2,000 the South Korean government has stated that the transliteration of this city into the Roman alphabet is spelled “Daegu.” – see note (a). I did point this out when it turned up in the Club Monthly for June 2016, with a nearly identical clue. Taegu is in Collins, but in this instance Collins appears to be incorrect. Or more accurately, out of date.
11. This fits right into cylindrical hole (7)
trunnel – R(ight) in TUNNEL. According to Collins, a variant spelling of treenail: “a dowel used for pinning planks or timbers together,” and thus an &lit
12. Faulty genetic material’s recessive in flatfish (4,3)
sand dab – BAD DNA’S, rev.
13. Quiet note to stop vilification (5)
muted – TE (note: a drink with jam and bread..) in MUD (vilification)
15. Repressive president makes sign, bringing the end a long way forward (9)
Ceausescu – CAUSES CUE (makes sign), with the final E moved forward… Nicolae Caesescu, last Communist president of Romania.
17. Agatha Christie’s distinct characters assembled in government building (9)
Reichstag – *(AGATHA CHRISTIE), with all the extra A’s, T, I and H removed .. a brilliant clue!
19. Large tart is filled with guillemot, say (5)
alcid – L in ACID (tart). A guillemot is a member of the family Alcidae, along with puffins and auks. Alcids are notable for being better at swimming than they are at flying.
20. Taking power back, I had brought in small coffers (7)
pyxides – I’D in SEXY (taking) + P(ower) rev. I hadn’t heard of this particular word but I had heard of the related trial of the pyx, which has taken place at least annually since 1282.
22. Burden of brother in control (7)
refrain – FRA (brother; as in Fra Angelico) in REIN (control). I had some difficulty in convincing myself that burden=refrain. But this is meaning 18 of burden, in the OED: “The refrain or chorus of a song; a set of words recurring at the end of each verse”
24. Primate died in the middle of writing on Crucifixion (5)
indri – D(ied) in IN RI. Indri are rather lovely but sadly critically endangered residents of Madagascar, the largest living lemurs.
25. Prosperous year after upper-class set’s woolly-headedness (9)
ulotrichy – U LOT (upper-class set) + RICH Y(ear). Woolly-headed in the literal sense rather than, for example, like me.
27. Recall odd aspects of saucy jades (3)
yus – odd letters of SaUcY, rev. Yu = jade is in Chambers but not in Collins or the OED.
28. Suddenly stressed, due to receive unknown amount in brief chance (11)
rinforzando – IN FOR + Z in RANDO(m). Despite my musical illiteracy I had heard of the more common sforzando, but not this variant spelling

Down
1. As pale blue as water after skimming top (3)
qua – (a)QUA. A pretentious way of saying “as,” eg: “It would have been about that time that childhood qua childhood assumed importance” (Collins)
2. Year and day almost in French land once ruled by Plantagenets (5)
Anjou – AN (year, in French) + JOU(r)
3. People like Brubeck and Kelly were leading prayers (7)
davened – a reference to DAVE Brubeck and NED Kelly.
4. The moment cases mount up before time for negative vote (3,6)
non placet – ALP rev. (mount, up) in NONCE (the moment, as in”for the nonce”) + T(ime). Tricky, the first one I struggled to parse
5. Elizabethan clamour from both sides of referendum? (5)
noyes – no & yes…
6. Perhaps what we expect of sunbathing sandpiper (7)
totanus – to tan us … not an expectation I have, sadly, just makes my skin go red and peel.
7. Keele’s principal to furnish university thus, possibly resisting blight (9)
klendusic – K(eele) + LEND (furnish) + U (university) + SIC (thus). Not certain what the “possibly” is there for
8. Tutor tails Parisian to the bachelor in number 22 once (11)
fauxbourdon – AUX B (french for to, + B(achelor) in FOUR (number), + DON (tutor). Fauxbourdon is an esoteric ancient musical technique which might well be a type of refrain, ie 22d. .. I couldn’t possibly say. The second one I struggled a little to parse, thinking that “number” was part of the def.
11. Older stamp-collecting mate between two informal guys beginning to yawn (11)
timbrophily – BRO (mate) in Tim _ Phil + Y(awn). An older version of philately (which as we know will get you nowhere)
14. Exit doors refurbished when one replaces old compounds (9)
trioxides – *(EXIT DOORS), with one of the Os replaced by I.
16. Mesquite grove initially arranged to block a local timber wolf (9)
algarrobo – G( rove ) + ARR(anged) in A LOBO (a US name for a timber wolf)
18. Harder to pin down jacket for martial arts in faith school (7)
hedgier – GI (jacket for martial arts) in HEDER (Jewish school)
19. Standard-bearer for Franco toppled judge in misplaced zeal (7)
alferez – REF rev (toppled judge) in *(ZEAL). A flag bearer for any Spaniard, not Franco specifically
21. Liberal wanting attention to curb places of worship (5)
shuln –  L( iberal ) in ‘SHUN (ie attention, as pronounced by RSMs). Shul is Yiddish for synagogue – every 18dn will have one nearby, and shuln its plural .. the last one I had difficulty parsing, owing to a simple failure to see ‘shun.
23. Short-legged sheep confined in Belgian Congo (5)
ancon – hidden in BelgiAN CONgo
26. Someone not Jewish raising last letter as “yod” (3)
ygo – GOY, ie someone not Jewish, with the Y lifted. Ygo and Yod are both ancient versions of “went.”