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OK, I've parsed 28 now, so have decided on the third letter.

27 the natural defender is an 8 letter word from which you remove the first 4 (against).

Thanks jono. I don't think that it's a very good clue.

An enjoyable crossword with some clever clues
FOI 1a LOI 29a which is also a COD along with 24a 4d 12a and 28a

A gentle offering from Kite but as always I couldn't have finished without the forum's help
FOI 14a
LOI 27a
COD a tie between the Paulinesque 17a and the subtle 10a

FOI 14/19 which gave me the theme, LOI 13a
Was going to go for 10a as COD but in the light of other comments will go with 27a

I agree with chrise. I couldn't parse 28a either and now I get it I think it's a bit far fetched if that's a correct description.

Can't see anything wrong with 28a, definition fine and parses as 2,4,1

Sorry roger, re. the Mose Allison thing I later realized I only googled him with the slang term. Otherwise no direct hits as you mentioned. Unfortunate consequence of posting too late on Friday evening.

No problem at all, geeker. Always good to learn something new!