Across
1 Speak evil but not to one’s face (4-4) BACK-BITE
5 Established paddock? (6)
9 Leave hurriedly to prepare a rough bed (2,1,4) DO A BUNK
10 Short slogan produces a tingle (7)TAGLINE
11 Compete with setter rushing around to produce table napkin (9)SERVIETTE
12 Foodie, to begin with, receives direction for banquet (5)FEAST
13 Dismiss French novelist overlooking Public Relations (4)OUST
14 Opener presents important portions of journey (3,6)
17 Skit jeers unfairly at watercraft users (3-6)JET SKIERS
19 Artist, by the way, backs a despot (4) TSAR
23 Poem’s final stanza in keen voice (5) ENVOI
24 Get it moving, as you might with a motorcycle! (4-5) KICK START
25 Dance around in a manner with a marsupial (7) WALLABY
26 An impression from the publisher (7) EDITION
27 Second-in-command takes turn in department attending to duty at last (6) DEPUTY
28 Trampled on the Oriental in mass rush (8) STAMPEDE
Down
1 Man yearns extremely to jump to a vehicle repair facility (4,4) BODY SHOP
2 Ashok, Kirti, Shaurya and the like (7) CHAKRAS
3 Kutch town serves up A-one snack (6) BHUJIA
4 Tease each meek kitty in a different way (4,3,6) TAKE THE MICKEY
6 Sporting contest that has a pull on team members (3-2-3) TUG OF WAR
7 Body of troops ordered to carry kit (7)
8 Builds straight up on top of stupa (6) ERECTS
10 Her cute stares produce box of valuables (8,5)TREASURE CHEST
15 Wannabe’s partisan manifestation (8)ASPIRANT
16 I leave epicentre in a whirl — that’s a cloak! (8) PRETENCE
18 Pen perhaps about love practised in cover (7) ENVELOP
20 Strange disease in the Marina (7) SEA SIDE
21 Sounded like a Persian? (6) MEOWED
22 Mother, therefore, turns up, holding one metallic element (6) OSMIUM