Each of the Indy setters has their own distinctive talent - with Phi it’s immaculately constructed clues that I always find I can understand. This was a typical example, where I was able to work out from the wordplay two words that were completely new to me, verifying them after. These were both in the lower half of the grid which I found much trickier than the top half. Solving time, 19 mins.

* = anagram < = reversed

ACROSS

1 AN (AB APT IS) T Member of certain Protestant movements in the 1500s ant = soldier apt = appropriate AB = sailor

6 A BUT

10 T ROOP poor<

11 ARRIVISTE   r (right) in (varies it)*

12 (p)LOT

13 FUG (obscure stuff) UsEd   Odd letters.     Not the first or last musical reference in a Phi clue.

14 SUPERNOVA  (prove a sun)*  &lit

15 OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE   range = oven

22 ATROCIOUS   O (nothing) in (a court is)*

24 D (I V) OT     Driver = golf club   V = see

25 HUB (bub)

26 VAPORETTI    (top variety)* less y = unknown (algebra)    New word number 1 (boats used in Venice)

27 OCTET    Hidden <      Appearing for second day in a row.

28 (c)RUSH

29 VESTRY-ROOM    (over stormy)*    A brilliantly concealed anagram in a great surface reading.

DOWN

1 ACT OF GOD    Excluded from insurance policies usually.

2 A (MO) NGST

3 APPLE OF DISCORD   (displaced proof)*    From Greek mythology (prelude to Battle of Troy)

4 T (HAT’S) T HAT    Middle of guTTer

5 STRAP   parts<

7 B (ASS) OON

8 TO (ERA) G(s)    Or it could be toga.

9 OVER MY DEAD BODY     Double definition - split is at you/put

16 FETISHI ST   (thief is)*    Obsessive is a noun here.

17 TEE TOT (r)UM    New word number 2 (old spinning top).

19 A PROP O S  First letters    Good flow in the surface reading

20 IN VIT(e) R O   First letters again for the last two.

21 SA (L) VER

22 OUTRE    r moving down in ROUTE

Some tough stuff here that had me using Chambers (not something I like to do on a Friday morning getting ready for work but I tend to have a bit more time). Bit of a disheartening experience discovering I didn’t know what SPINNERET (Arachne spinning her web?), BREADHEADS and CAVATINA meant — nor a couple of unusual meanings for ALSO and GRAM. Good clues though with surfaces that held together nicely. And I feel a barrage of explanations about to descend for all the things I didn’t understand.

Across

Down

Easy to solve the grid (with some rather underwhelming clues), much harder to find the phrase made up of the extra letters.

The phrase was almost irrelevant in terms of completing and sending in the solution. I find this is often the case in these crosswords and It might be a good idea if we were always required to write the missing/extra letter phrases below the grid to prove a complete solution before being eligible for champagne!

The appearance of BERLINER on the third line from the bottom led to a search for ICH BIN EIN which appeared on the two lines above it, and KENNEDY on the second line from the top. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech was made nearly 25 years ago.

A bit of Wikipedia searching led to the (incorrect) urban myth that “ein Berliner” is a doughnut, while “Berliner” without the “ein” is an inhabitant of Berlin. Hence Kennedy had said ONE EIN TOO MANY and was LITERALLY saying “I AM A DOUGHNUT” instead of “I am a citizen of Berlin”.

Solving time : 1.5 hours to complete the crossword and another hour to find all the extra letters and to remove some that I had, but were incorrect!

Below the bracketed italic letters are the extra ones.