Across
1 Emperor about to admit fighter to haul back (8)
5 Women mix up in duckwalk (6)
10 Cattle disease brought by endless fog and deluge (7)
11 Finale has mice spreading out over a wide area (7) ENDEMIC
12 Merchant tarred badly (6) TRADER
13 A doctor almost got up with one drop of amrit — food for the gods (8) AMBROSIA
15 On top of which, a house is nothing (4)
16 Reader's voluminous notes by the side (10)
18 No siren is for such a situation (10)
20 It's half-kind to writer (4)
23 Having alighted, I rate assembled intellectuals (8) LITERATI
24 Fruit — old chum almost swallows it (6)
26 Drink quite mixed by the French (7)
27 Was father mean until he became this? (7)
28 Baby, go with grass endlessly (6)
29 Eat, perhaps, besides drinking during this time (3,5) TEA BREAK
Down
1 Thus some sentences might end (4,2,1,4,4) COME TO A FULL STOP
2 They are often cast in Westerns (7)
3 State support for beard (6)
4 Single bunch: novel without energy (4)
6 Moreover, smoothens the firewood holders (8) ANDIRONS
7 Mother's sole provision for old girl (7) DAMOSEL
8 Once the silent one's state took away opening sign! (11,4) EXCLAMATION MARK
9 Whose target man? Perhaps! (9) TERMAGANT
14 Cultural centre? (9)
17 United, perhaps, following husband, victim of recession (8)
19 Old lark, we hear (7)
21 Shorten a game (7)
22 About to run into feeding-time requirement — tummy soother (6)
25 Fever? Dispute rightaway! (4)
