The Age Cryptic by DH #20,460

Another puzzle of mixed clues where there were some very easy ones and some I still don't know how they're parsed. I have three unparsed clues here: 1D, 3D and 8D (in red). I have three red pen clues, too but two of those I could parse once I had the answer.

I noticed this puzzle had several anagrams (8 in blue)  and many of the clues had long definitions of three or more words. That left only a few words to action into an answer. Sometimes that was great to remove excess wordage from confusion, other times I found I was left with a lonely word in the clue and had no option but to strip its first letter. Here's the pic:

1A - Hurtful things said when working at the sawmill (7,7)
"Hurtful things said" is our definition and when working at the "sawmill" you'd be cutting wood so our hurtful comments phrase becomes CUTTING REMARKS.

9A - Little James digging for flowering climbing plant (7)
"Flowering climbing plant" is the definition and "Little James" = JAS which was a common abbreviation for James that was once Ja's but then lost the apostrophe. It's common in genealogy. "Digging" = MINE for JASMINE.

10A - Study with German and allow entry once more (7)
"Allow entry once more" is the definition and "study" = READ and "with in German" = MIT for READMIT.

11A - Sickened when Una teased doctor (9)
"Sickened" is the definition and "una teased doctor" is fodder and anagrind to give us NAUSEATED.

12A - Pass a law for return of some recent cane sugar crops (5)
Hidden word clue. "Pass a law" is our definition and "return of" is a reversal signpost and it could mean to reverse a word being put into an answer but here it means to find our answer reversed in the clue: "recenT CANE sugar crops" = ENACT.

13A - Sally in back of Charles? (5)
"Sally" is our definition and "back of" = FO where "back" is a reversal instruction for "of" as I mentioned previously. "Charles" is the surname of the famous RAY Charles to give us FORAY.

14A - To perform on the rink, kills Katherine (3,5)
Double definition: ICE SKATE. (Ices Kate)

18A - My corn is treated showing beneficial treatment to friends (8)
"Beneficial treatment to friends" is our definition and "my corn is treated" is fodder and anagrind to give us CRONYISM.

20A - Like that Rolls Royce? May finish regretful (5)
"Regretful" is our definition and "like that" = SO (as in "just so?"), "Rolls Royce" = RR and "maY finish" = Y to give us SORRY.

23A - Starts lining up with gold son, for Hawaiian feasts (5)
"Hawaiian feasts" is our definition "starts Lining Up" = LU, "with gold" = AU as the chemical symbol, leaving "son" = S to give us our plural for LUAUS.

25A - I have select moves about chosen subjects (9)
"Chosen subjects" is our definition and "I have" = I'VE minus the apostrophe, "select moves, about" where we get two instructions, one to make "select" an anagram the other to split that around IVE to give us: ELECT(IVE)S.

27A - Fall over oil spill in North African port (7)
"North African port" is our definition and this is yet another favourite word for compilers. I've come across this many times. "Fall over" = TRIP and "oil spill" is fodder and anagrind to give us TRIPOLI.

28A - Doctor also around Los Angeles for lottery? (7)
"Lottery" is our definition and "doctor" = MB which is one of many abbreviations for a doctor, "also" = TOO which is "around" the MB - in the clue it reads as if the TOO should go "around" the "Los Angeles" = LA and it tripped me up until the cross letters came into the grid to show me it's TO(MB)O(LA)

29A - Panda Lance King misplaced in emergency descent (7,7)
"Emergency descent" is our definition and this was a new phrase for me.
"Panda lance king misplaced" is fodder and anagrind to make PANCAKE LANDING.

1D - About James the First? A French Acadian? (5)
I had to google for this one. I had the J in place from 9A and our answer is CAJUN which I think is just "James" = J  but I'm not very sure. I cannot see where the C comes from. "A French" = UN which gets us A(J)(UN) but nothing for the C. I don't think I need a detailed history of Scottish/British monarchs, do I?

2D - Extremely tense boss starting to outfit ancient Roman battle shelter (7)
"Ancient Roman battle shelter" is our definition and "extremely TensE" = TE, "boss" = STUD and that leaves "outfit" = O but I don't know exactly why other than it's the last word we've got and it starts with an O and we need an O to make TESTUDO. I knew this answer because back in Scotland, my daughter's 2nd grade project was to make a Roman shield and the kids demonstrated this formation in a school presentation. It was hilarious!

3D - I can be on time. Rosemary ends travel programme (9)
"Travel programme" is our definition and I didn't get this because I thought it was a TV show. I got as far as "RosemarY ends" = Y and then it's a mess for me. I think "I" = I and "time" can be T or ERA. Yeah, not getting far here, sorry.

4D - Terribly not? Get in slum area (6)
"Slum area" is the definition and "terribly not get" is anagrind and fodder for GHETTO.

5D - Terribly icy; rude about the last wife of Orpheus (8)
"Wife of Orpheus" is our definition and do we really have "terribly" as an anagrind again, back to back? Yes we do. Mix up "icy rude" and add "thE last" = E to get EURYDICE.

6D - Australian donated some fibre-producing plant (5)
"Fibre-producing plant" is our definition and "Australian" = A, "donated" = GAVE" for the AGAVE plant. I found that interesting and found a video of an Ecudorian man stripping out the agave fibres to make shoes. Luckily there was a woman in the crowd who occasionally translated.

7D - Knock back friend in medical group in Uganda city (7)
"Ugandan city" is our definition and "knocK back" = K, "friend" = PAL to be put into the "medical group" = AMA like this: K(AM(PAL)A)

8D - Under way? Put into circulation and speak haltingly (7)
"speak haltingly" is our definition and I got this from definition and cross letters. I don't know what's going on here. To me if something is "under way" it's begun or started so does that give us the ST? I've not seen "ST" used to mean start before. "Put into circulation" is that "UTTER" as a piece of gossip? That seems far fetched. Nope! Don't know what's going on here.

15D - Cricketer, perhaps, making awful storm in bridge (9)
"Cricketer" is our definition and I think the word "perhaps" is just a hint that we need to think more laterally than directly, so we don't want a particular player or team name but something more general. "Making awful storm" is anagrind and partial fodder to be put "in" a synonym for "bridge" = SPAN like this: SP(ORTSM)AN.

16D - A pass arranged yet for priest's attendant (7)
Did not get, I'm not a churchy person and the vocabulary surround the church isn't second nature to me. "Priest's attendant" is the definition and "A pass" = A COL which is a new word for me, then "arranged yet" is anagrind and partial fodder for an ACOL(YTE)

17D - New task, sire for little star? (8)
"Little star" is our definition and the question mark hints that it's not the obvious ones in the sky or even the screen we're looking for. "New task sire" is anagrind and fodder mixed to give us ASTERISK. I call them splats myself. They're common annotation for an anagram in cryptic crossword groups.

19D - Little musical instrument in Cairo an enigma (7)
"Little musical instrument" is our definition and "cairo in enigma" is fodder and anagrind to give us OCARINA.

21D - Shastri look back over Indian pasta dish (7)
I got this with definition and cross letters. "Pasta dish" is our definition and I'd never seen the word "Shastri" before but once I got the answer, RAVIOLI I googled to see if there was a Ravi Shastri and there is - a cricket player. Curses! Foiled by a cricket clue. I'm guessing "LOok back, over" = LO but not sure why only the LO and put that "over" the "Indian" = I for RAVI(OL)(I). I'm sure I've messed up here - pip in with corrections please.

22D - Pure calf meat? Eliot back into it (6)
I like this clue. "Pure" is the definition and "calf meat" = VEAL, "Eliot back" is TS Eliot = TS reversed to ST put "into" VEAL like this: VE(ST)AL. I first thought "Eliot back"  was meant as a reversal so I looked for hidden words and I did find "meaT ELIOT" = TOILET. I just couldn't make that fit any definitions. Coincidence? Misdirection?

24D - And presto! I considered being a little indifferent (5)
"Being a little indifferent" is our definition and this is the hidden word clue! Snuggled within "preSTO I Considerd" = STOIC.

26D - Argot new in smelting waste? (5)
"Argot" is our definition and I knew "smelting waste" = SLAG and had to guess "new" = N being put "in" SLAG to give us SLANG, a synonym for "Argot."

Another one down. As always, smoother solutions are welcome so please put yours in the comments.  No long goodbyes today.

Goodbye!