| Across | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | SLEDGEHAMMER | |
| Hard hitter’s advantage hooligans primarily witnessed in jail (12) | [EDGE + (H)OOLIGANS] inside SLAMMER | |
| 9 | TRACHEA | |
| Hydrogen found in search for a gas-pipe (7) | H inside TRACE + A | |
| 10 | PAINTER | |
| Landscaper, perhaps, is not commonly breaking through (7) | AINT inside PER | |
| 11 | PROPERTY | |
| Quality veteran forward playing in the centre (8) | PRO + PERT + PLA(Y)ING | |
| 12 | SLINKY | |
| Coloured fluid used in clever children’s toy (6) | INK inside SLY | |
| 14 | DEED | |
| Exploit senior reporter running back and forth (4) | ED reversed + ED | |
| 15 | VACCINATED | |
| Victim’s head, impacted by a terrible accident, is protected from infection (10) | (V)ICTIM + A + anagram of ACCIDENT | |
| 18 | UNABRIDGED | |
| A bun, rough and crinkly, is whole (10) | Anagram of A BUN + RIDGED | |
| 19 | IBIS | |
| Wader is following one back to club (4) | IS after [I + CLU(B)] | |
| 22 | TOP HAT | |
| Surgery conducted in that head gear considered first-class (3,3) | OP inside THAT | |
| 24 | STURGEON | |
| Child taking time to encourage valued swimmer (8) | SON outside (T + URGE) | |
| 26 | LOADING | |
| A racket noted in journal is appearing on screen (7) | (A + DIN) inside LOG | |
| 27 | BONFIRE | |
| It burns wood in section of frame (7) | FIR inside BONE | |
| 28 | TESTOSTERONE | |
| Investigate store changing whole production of nuts (12) | TEST + anagram of STORE + ONE | |
| Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | SOAP OPERA | |
| Drama series very much appreciated by each generation (4,5) | SO + A POP + ERA | |
| 2 | ECHOES | |
| Bride finally chose fashioned rings (6) | BRID(E) + anagram of CHOSE | |
| 3 | GIANT PANDA | |
| Guinea interbred taipan and a vulnerable species (5,5) | G + anagram of TAIPAN AND | |
| 4 | HOPE | |
| Trust employees of shop explicitly? (4) | sHOP Explicitly | |
| 5 | MAINLAND | |
| Home computer system adopted by extremely enthusiastic part of a country (8) | (IN + LAN) inside MAD | |
| 6 | EATEN | |
| Had something scrambled after starter (5) | B(EATEN) | |
| 7 | STUPID | |
| Thickheaded boss probed by private investigator (6) | STUD outside PI | |
| 8 | X-RAYED | |
| I’m clear of fresh batch of Readymix examined internally for problems (1-5) | Anagram of READYMIX minus IM | |
| 13 | ACCEPTABLE | |
| PC ace reorganised data structure all right (10) | Anagram of PC ACE + TABLE | |
| 16 | TABLE WINE | |
| Yarn about expert oenophile’s choice, perhaps (5,4) | TWINE outside ABLE | |
| 17 | ORGANIST | |
| Love arrangement of a string instrument player (8) | O + anagram of A STRING | |
| 18 | UNTOLD | |
| Great unit losing one veteran (6) | UNIT minus I + OLD | |
| 20 | SINNER | |
| Wrongdoer’s small secret (6) | S + INNER | |
| 21 | GRINGO | |
| Band appearing in function is Foreigner (6) | RING inside GO | |
| 23 | PEACE | |
| Sound of musical composition’s harmony (5) | Sounds like PIECE | |
| 25 | AGES | |
| Passengers in carriage sat a long time (4) | carriAGE Sat |
An enjoyable crossword, with a couple of particularly tricky clues. “Production of nuts” was my highlight.
This was a good balance of tricky and fairly straightforward clues, which provided success and challenges at some level for everybody.
The nuts appear to have been flavour of the month. I am kicking myself that I could not get the parsing of soap opera without help.