Was relieved to avoid an overly-taxing puzzle today, as I think recent sleep deprivation is catching up on me.  A couple of good though-provoking devices nestled away in here, though.  My parsing of 23D may be off-beam however.
Also, belated apologies for going AWOL on my blogging duties last week. Last-minute travel plans snafu-ed my online (and newspaper) access.

Across
1 ROBINS,ON CRUSOE (source)* - a good-humoured, and natural, surface to kick matters off.
10 AK(IT)A - “To control” is one of the more Libertarian indicators you’ll meet in a contents/container clue.
12 PIANINO - hidden.
13 A,B INTRA (art nib) rev - even my layman’s Latin was sufficient to deduce this phrase.
14 LOCAL - “Weightwatchers” = Lo-Cal
16 KI(DNA)PPED (and)*- re: the RLS novel.
19 BAYS,W,ATER - I enjoyed “parking areas” = bays, as it initially lured the reflexive part of my brain into expecting some sort of “P+A” wordplay.
25 HATC,HET - initial letters + (the)*
29 NEVER-NEVER LA(N)D - I think never-never=”on credit” is probably classified as antiquated these days?

Down
2 O,LIG,ARCH,Y - took me a while to justify the wordplay here, until I recalled “Yankee” as being radio call-sign for Y.
4 SKY ROCKET - re: Cockney rhyming slang
6 R(US,TIC)ATE - a crossword-friendly word, although I don’t actually recall encountering before in a puzzle.
17 D,ARK HO RSE (shore)* - Don’t think I’ve seen “departed” to indicate D before. Is it kosher?
19 PART,HEN,ON - not tricky, but a good seamless construction.
19 BLUE,FIN - “Blew” is the spending homophone.
23 K(IR)O,V - I presume that “Contest”=KO(=Knock out).
26 T,ROLL

Solving Time: 20 minutes

The usual clever puzzle from Nimrod that was ejoyable to solve with some good laugh-out-loud clues.

ACROSS  (* = ANAG  /   (cd) =  Cryptic definition  /  (R) = Reversal)

1/28   IT’S AS BROAD AS IT’S LONG     Nice anagram!
8 EYES     E + YES
10   FLEX  Homophone of “flecks”
12 DOMINIC  DOC (Dwarf) with MINI inside
15 WHAT’S YOUR POISON NOTORIOUS SPA WHY*
17 CHARLES AND DIANA Loved the definition!  AND HE’S CARDINALS*
20 VALIANT  NAIL (R) inside VAT
21 ESSAYED  ASS (R) inside EYED - Not sure I feel comfortable about using retarded to indicate backwards  in a clue.
23/18 RING-LEAD Not listed in Chambers as a verb but is in OED as a “rarity” (Thanks DQ!)    INGLE inside RAD

DOWN

1/27 ICH DIEN (CD) Charles’ motto; “I serve” in German, hence the Boris Becker remark, although ( a pedant observes) surely he’d say “I’ll serve”
2 SALEM  Bit too clunky as a clue for my liking.  Hidden answer.
3 STAINES  EAT-IN* replacing ANDWICHE in SANDWICHES
4 ROO  ROO(M)
5 AGENT ORANGE One from history - A + NOTE* inside GRANGE
7 YELLOW SEA SO WELL* inside YEA
8/9/24 SIX OF ONE AND HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER
11 LEGO  Hidden answer
12 DOWN-COVERED OWN C inside DOVER + ED
13 CROSS STAFFS (CD)
16 AT A GLANCE A TAG + LANCE
19 DESPOTS  S in STO(P)PED (R)
22 YAHOO  YAH BOO (SUCKS!) less B
25/14 HIT THE ROOF I + TT + HERO inside HOF (Capitalised in Chambers - hence Yard capitalised here)
26 RAG  D/D

 Great fun and thanks to Nimrod!

Solving time - about half an hour in two sessions.

I started off quite quickly and had half of it done within 5 minutes, but then ground to a halt and had to think hard to get the last few. There were a few tricky words in the wordplay as well as in the grid. I’d never heard of 1dn or the tree in 7dn.

Across
1 DELIQUESCED = “Delhi quest”. I didn’t get this until I had all the crossing letters. I was trying to think of a synonym for emigrated.
9 BO(NAN)Z,A - Boz is Dickens’ occasional pseudonym, as in Sketches by Boz.
10 TU,TORE,D=last letter of landlord.
12 OSCAR - comes before Papa in the phonetic alphabet.
13 BLOC(k) - to scotch is to block. Last one I got, along with 7.
16 D.I.’S CONCERT - DIS is usually clued as “woman’s” or “princess’s” or Hell. I think this is the first time I’ve seen D.I. for Detective Inspector used.
19 AGED - Dega(s) reversed.
21 N.I.,OBE - a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology.
24 MANDALA(y) - a geometric pattern representing the cosmos, used in Eastern religions to aid meditation.
26 ROLLER,TOWEL(owlet*)

Down
1 DANGEROUS CORNER - a play by J. B. Priestley. A black spot road sign is positioned as a warning to drivers on dangerous corners in the U.K. I don’t know if there are similar signs elsewhere in the world.
2 LIND,A - Jenny Lind, a.k.a. the Swedish Nightingale, was a 19th-century opera singer.
3 QUA,KING - qua is Latin for as. I had ???KING straight away, but it took a run through the alphabet to find the right answer.
4 ESTONIA - A.I.,NOT,S(pac)E all reversed.
7 A,B,SORB - a sorb is a type of tree, which I looked up afterwards.
8 ADO,RN,S(wab)
15 D(OVET)AIL - vote* in DAIL, which is the Irish parliament.
17 C(A,SCAD)E - I think I’ve heard of a scad before as a type of fish…
20 DUDLEY - Dudley Moore and a town in the midlands.

I found this easier than usual.   Solving time: 14 mins.

Notes on some clues below - happy to explain others if asked.

* = anagram

ACROSS

11 TOAST    Double definition

13 APPLE T   From computers (Java)

27 OUTDO     Hidden in withOUT DOubt.    Definition = best, the outsiders are the outside letters - with ubt.

DOWN

4 STAR(ving)    Definition = somebody (famous)

14 THE RAINBOW   (Novel by DH Lawrence)   (bra white no)*

17 M (A CAR) OON     Moon “made of green cheese”.

Cinephile is well on form with this fine themed puzzle. Most of the across clues include “beast” and have answers that start with names of animals. This was an easier theme to work out than most but working it out was not as helpful as in the case of most themes because there are just so many animals — so, a nice balance. I especially like 12A, 29A, 3D and 9D. I had to use my dictionary for 8D and 19D.

I am going on holiday for a couple of weeks to places beyond the reach of the FT so will not be blogging the current and next two FT Weekend puzzles. Maybe someone else will. I will be back with the puzzle of November 17/18.

Across

1. HORSE LATITUDES - HORSE (beast) + A TIT (a bird) in [inter]LUDES
10. OXEYE - OX (beast) + EYE (look at)
11. MARES-TAIL - MARE S (beast’s) + TAIL (homophone of TALE)
12. WARBLES - double definition
13. DRAGOON - DRAG (female dress) + O (nothing) + ON (on)
14. BEARS - cryptic double definition
16. GAWKINESS - anagram of SING WE ASK
19. CATAMARAN - CAT (beast) + A MA (a degree) + RAN (fled)
20. NOTED - NOT (isn’t) + ED (journalist)
22. RAMPART - RAM (beast) + PART (role)
25. PIGTAIL - PIG (beast) + TAIL (queue)
27. SERVITUDE - anagram of DIVESTURE
28. BATCH - BAT (beast) + CH (companion [of honour])
29. MONKEY BUSINESS - MONKEY (beast) + SINE (function) in BUSS (kiss formerly)

Down

2. OVERREACT - anagram of CARE in OVERT (obvious)
3. SPELL - I am unsure how to characterize this clue but it’s a beaut
4. LUMP SUGAR - LUMP (big fat) + SUGAR (sweetheart)
5. TIRED - double definition (presumably with one in the sense of attired)
6. TASMANIAN - T (time) + MAN (chap) in ASIAN (continental)
7. DRACO - O (round) + CARD (one of the pack) all backwards
8. SILENUS - SILEN[t] (most of the quiet) + US (FT)
9. COBWEB - COB (nut) + WEB (net)
15. SUMMARISE - anagram of MUMS + ARISE (get up)
17. WINEPRESS - anagram of NEW I (one) + PRESS (journalist)
18. ENTRACTES - anagram of CENTRES AT
19. CHRISOM - CH (church) + IS (is) in ROM (front of Roman)
21. DELPHI - hidden word
23. MORON - homophone
24. THUMB - double definition
26. GABON - homophone