CRYPTIC
Across
8 Where in S Africa to keep a loved one during scare mid-morning? (4,4)
9 Resistance to a politician by ancient city, an old Indian prince’s capital (6)
10 A railhead at modern-day city in Transylvania (4)
11 Draw pail in surprising location in Pakistan (10)
12 Hound this Asian? (6)
13 Not all bypass Edom, returning to port… (6)
15 …exhausted, by the main waterway coming from Jordan? (4,3)
17 Disgust expressed over bad weather here in the Gulf (7)
20 Overture from Taranaki of old? (6)
22 Order follows an imperial measure here in Kazakhstan (6)
25 Hand back Foreign Office/United Nations party at Brazilian site (5,5)
26 No way to reach this department in France (4)
27 Nice place in LA where Blair is worried about the English immigrant (3,3)
28 Gulf between them and 17 in semi-scratch speed? (8)

Down
1 Argentina place radical inside Arabian city, turning new leaf... (3,6)
2 ...an Arabian city, obviously, where some had déjà vu reflections (6)
3 Aussie waterhole, by the sound of it, near 2w7 (8)
4 Blizzard may be academic at this elevated spot in 24 (7)
5 Rose’s place in Kerry’s heart? (6)
6 Indian city amir ransacked with Russian leader (8)
7 Moroccan site where French get German OK to smuggle diamonds… (5)
14 …– the girl’s best friend – from this source in S Africa? (9)
16 Russian satellite’s dead a long time before hitting the tangent (8)
18 Part of Brazil’s a jungle, almost no return for one reaching midway (8)
19 The Spanish-speaking upset in some way, heading for Malvinas base (7)
21 Cow the ex-President into a seat of learning in the UK (6)
23 Afghanistan’s evacuation follows secret Chinese one in the Pacific (6)
24 British land marine types, but lose an hour (5)

QUICK
Across
8 Legislative capital of the Republic of South Africa (4,4)
9 Ancient nawab’s capital in Uttar Pradesh (6)
10 Industrial city in Romanian Transylvania (4)
11 Pakistani capital after Karachi and before Islamabad (10)
12 Citizen of a S Asian Islamic republic (6)
13 Ukrainian port, still used by the Russian whaling fleet (6)
15 At 400m below seal level, the world’s lowest point (4,3)
17 Sheikdom in the Persian Gulf, originally prized for its pearl-fishing (7)
20 Former name for Mt Taranaki (6)
22 Kazakh industrial city, previously Aktyubinsk (6)
25 City on the main Sao Paulo-Montevideo rail line, in Rio Grande do Sul (5,5)
26 French department (4)
27 Well-to-do Los Angeles suburb (3,3)
28 UAE, colloquially (8)

Down
1 Mountain range NW of Los Angeles (3,6)
2 Administrative capital of Saudi Arabia (6)
3 Los Angeles suburb, west of Long Beach (8)
4 Britain’s highest peak outside Scotland (7)
5 County town of Kerry, Irish Republic (6)
6 Site of the Sikhs’ holy Golden Temple (8)
7 Moroccan commercial city, close to the Algerian border (5)
14 Diamond mining city of S Africa (9)
16 Russian republic, capital Makhachkala (8)
18 Region comprising approximately one-third of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest (8)
19 Capital and main port of the Falklands/Malvinas (7)
21 Home of Britain’s oldest university (6)
23 One from the former Friendly Islands (6)
24 Principality within the United Kingdom (5)