WOD to 6dn, concept of the day to 3dn, tip of the hat to the setter for another masochistically entertaining monthly workout. Tip-top!
ACROSS
1 Rotation of soil by first person in English and French and Mexican community farms (6)
EJIDOS – reverse all of SOD + I + JE [soil | first person in English | first person in French]
5 Volk seen going walkabout in this? (8)
VELSKOEN – (VOLK SEEN*), semi-&lit. South African walking shoes.
9 Decoration on band twisting middle of knee and wrist (8)
ENCARPUS – reversed {k}NE{e} + CARPUS [wrist], to find “a festoon of fruit ornamenting a frieze”.
10 It is about containing breach in odd places in pirate ships of yore (6)
XEBECS – reversed SEX [it], containing B{r}E{a}C{h}. Three-masters sailed by the corsairs of Algiers.
11 Chemist’s employees against attention directed to the Left (10)
MENDELEYEV – MEN [employees] + reversed V EYE LED [against | attention | directed]
13 Low-level software returned each of consecutive letters (4)
UNIX – the “consecutive letters” are not from our alphabet, but NU and XI (which follows nu and precedes omicron in the Greek one).
14 Second for Cambridge as light blue (4)
AQUA – {c}A{mbridge} + QUA [as]
15 For example 13 fire into rabbit fur worn on head (7,3)
COSSACK HAT – OS [= operating system, e.g. Unix] + SACK [fire], into CHAT [rabbit]
18 Table-cooked food is very soft, some held by wood implements at first (6-4)
TEPPAN-YAKI – PP ANY [very soft | some], held by TEAK I{mplements}
20 Oil lamp in regular use by dairyman (4)
DIYA – D{a}I{r}Y{m}A{n}. Used by Hindus at Diwali.
21 Egypt’s sunny representative rejected polite but informal refusal (4)
ATON – reverse of NO, TA. Aton or Aten, an Egyptian sun god.
23 Never failing to include island celebs from S American republic (10)
SURINAMESE – SURE [never failing], to include I NAMES
25 Power of reflection: that of verse reduced worthless talk (6)
ALBEDO – reversed ODE BLA{h}
26 Old-timer’s poem about disheartened alcoholic’s aid for biochemical change (8)
RIBOZYME – RIME about BO{o}ZY
28 Group of stars people generally put on uniform after sailor changes into uniform (8)
EQUULEUS – US [people generally] put on EQU{ab->U}LE; the A.B. [= able-bodied seaman] of EQUABLE changes into U.
29 Art going to get stuck briefly in outback shelter (6)
WILTJA – WILT [art going to, forsooth] gets JA{m}
DOWN
2 Younger aged shield-bearer never seeing king or one with regal bearing (9)
JUNOESQUE – take JUNIOR ESQUIRE [younger | aged shield-bearer] and ensure it never “sees” either R [= king] or I [= one] to find JUN{i}O{r} ESQU{ir}E
3 Diameter over velocity plus volume over area in spacetime, say (7)
DVANDVA – D(iameter) over V(elocity} AND [plus] V(olume) over A(rea). Dvanda is a Sanskrit word for any word that is a pair of equally weighted concepts, such as tragicomedy or bittersweet, per my dictionary app’s suggestions.
4 Step up energy to undermine energy-efficiency indicator (3)
SAP – reverse a PAS [step] to find any one of the three other definitions
5 Poet’s prodigious pen: see answer above (5)
VASTY – STY [pen] under V A [see | answer]
6 Maybe a wash-out celebrity welcomes team by way of note (11)
LIXIVIATION – LION “welcomes” XI VIA TI
7 Most of Scots know Dollar stores British cheese there (7)
KEBBUCK – KE{n} BUCK “stores” B. A strange Scots word for cheese.
8 High priest interrupted by chief ambassador (5)
ELCHI – ELI [crosswordland’s favourite high priest] “interrupted” by CH
12 Numbers busy cutting fruit tree short to reveal low church window (11)
LYCHNOSCOPE – NOS COP [numbers | busy] “cutting” LYCHE{e}
16 It’s medium in South Australia, not large in Perth (3)
SMA – M in S A. Scottish rendering of “small”.
17 Preserve an opportunity to speak with artist to set up Hindu school (4,5)
ARYA SAMAJ – reverse all of JAM A SAY + R.A. An enlightened 19th century religious body opposed to idolatry, caste and child-marriage.
19 Red previously seen in unfinished Gauguin, perhaps (7)
PONCEAU – ONCE [previously] seen in PAU{l}. The colour of poppies or thereabouts.
20 Old maid’s shock, carrying maiden over lake (7)
DAMOZEL – DAZE “carrying” M{aiden} O{ver}, plus L{ake}
22 Leaves to chew over accepting the Arabic form of Islamic divorce (5)
TALAQ – reversed QAT [leaves to chew] “accepting” AL [the, in Arabic]. Nice change from “the French”, which could also have worked here.
24 From country parts of America, Alabama’s plucked down under owls (5)
RURUS – take RUR{al} U.S. [country parts of America], and “pluck” out AL [= Alabama] to find these Antipodean owls, also known as mopokes.
27 Oscar bagged by monochrome film’s sex symbol (3)
BOW – O(scar) “bagged” by B&W to leave us with the lovely Clara Bow, after whom my younger daughter is partly named!
Thought it was going to be a pangram, but they accidentally sent F and G home early, V ..