Times 27,197: Monotreme Sports

Another straightforward puzzle by Friday standards, with nothing much to scare the horses, though I hadn’t heard of a finger stall. First one in 1ac, LOI 22ac after 17dn gave the crossing I. Clue of the day to 20dn for both having interesting wordplay and also being original in its identification of the “first woman”. Thanks setter!

ACROSS
1 Harsh Balkan, reportedly one taken into account (7)
ACERBIC – homophone of SERB [Balkan, “reportedly”] + I [one] “taken into” AC [account]

5 Farm workers adding a touch of traditional colour (7)
PIGMENT – PIGMEN [farm workers] adding T{raditional}

9 Cushion for flat (3)
PAD – double def

10 Digital protector‘s ratings fell disastrously (11)
FINGERSTALL – (RATINGS FELL*) [“disastrously”]

11 Reflective cleric going on unfortunately bores viewer (8)
OBSERVER – REV reversed [“reflective” cleric] going on (BORES*) [“unfortunately”]

12 Edible gastropod to gather right away (6)
WINKLE – W{r}INKLE [to gather, minus R for right]

15 Authentic German 19th century bags returned (4)
ECHT – hidden reversed in {19}TH CE{ntury}

16 Plodding round hospital back to entrance to get sticker for collection (5,5)
STAMP HINGE – STAMPING [plodding] round H [hospital] + {entranc}E

18 American men and nations in turmoil (10)
MINNESOTAN – (MEN + NATIONS*) [“in turmoil”]

19 Western fruit crop (4)
WHIP – W HIP [western | fruit]

22 Purify copper, however briefly (6)
DISTIL – D.I. [copper] + STIL{l} [however “briefly”]

23 Short poem, as exercise (8)
QUATRAIN – QUA TRAIN [as | exercise]

25 With child, purchasing “golden” cough remedy (11)
EXPECTORANT – EXPECTANT [with child], “purchasing” OR [golden]

27 Prime pillock gives it away for nothing (3)
TWO – TW{it->O} [pillock, replacing its “IT” with “O”]

28 Genuine error — Queen held in church (7)
SINCERE – SIN [error] + ER [Queen] held in CE [church]

29 Insectivore from East died, eaten by mate (7)
ECHIDNA – E [East] + D [died] “eaten by” CHINA [mate]

DOWN
1 Favour old verb in revised paper (7)
APPROVE – O V [old | verb] in (PAPER*) [“revised”]

2 Workers with most seniority, those needing to play first (6,5)
ELDEST HANDS – double def, with one overliteral reading of the phrase

3 Prior to support closure of house (6)
BEFORE – BE FOR [to support] + {hous}E

4 Satisfied no one’s taken up dispute (10)
CONTENTION – CONTENT [satisfied] + reversed NO I [no | one]

5 Food for raptors sparsely, evenly presented (4)
PREY – even letters of {s}P{a}R{s}E{L}Y

6 Flame from lamp, silver, turned up a little (8)
GASLIGHT – reversed AG [silver] + SLIGHT [a little]

7 When one’s expected letter from abroad (3)
ETA – double def with E.T.A. [when one’s expected]

8 Flammable liquid‘s colour’s first lost in air (7)
TOLUENE – {b}LUE [colour, with first lost] in TONE [air]

13 Thoughtful class passionate about reading? (4-7)
KIND-HEARTED – KIND [class] + HEATED [passionate] about R [reading, as in one of the three R’s]

14 The writer’s mother departed in copper’s wake, blameless(10)
IMMACULATE – I’M MA [the writer’s | mother] + LATE [departed] in the wake of CU [copper]

17 Average doctor has nothing to carry about (8)
MEDIOCRE – MEDIC [doctor] has O [nothing] to carry, + RE [about]

18 Holed by count, stag goes wild (7)
MADDENS – MEN’S [stag], “holed by” ADD [count]

20 First woman in shipping firm starts to resent advice (7)
PANDORA – P AND O [= P&O, shipping firm] + R{esent} A{dvice}. Greek myth’s first woman, not Eve for a change!

21 Small dwarf, a potential pain in the long run? (6)
STITCH – S TITCH [small | dwarf]

24 Church leader requires work, in padre’s case (4)
POPE – OP [work] in P{adr}E

26 Secure access code (3)
PIN – double def with P.I.N. [access code]