Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.
And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.

ACROSS

 1 Having no charge in a labor group (9)

 6 Purplish grail returned? Excellent (4)

 8 Imagine 500—500!—pieces of paper (5)

 9 Arrows she shot for veterans (9)

11 Part of an exercise routine, posted again to serve as a symbol (9)

12 Musical’s one vital segment (5)

13 Cruise interrupted by an expert in 18 (7)

16 Cherry stone ultimately lodged in unhealthy thorax (7)

18 Popular-sounding 13 (3)

19 Name of woman eager for fabric (7)

20 Doctor’s hawkish outburst? (7)

21 Sarcasm is like steel? (5)

23 Policeman nabs Hawaii versifier—I hope there’s no bull there (5,4)

26 It’s garnered with difficulty, to take first step for citizenship! (5,4)

27 Salts with iodine in bones (5)

28 Take $1,000 from African country musician (4)

29 Rite that’s bizarre: cats eating noodles (9)
 

DOWN

 1 Agreement subject to the authority of reputation (13)

 2 I rearranged 6-across to get “frosty” (3,2)

 3 Unfeeling, Nero fiddled before Rome’s end as the greatest (6,3)

 4 Helping of chorizo wiener—holy smoke! (5)

 5 Sit around aimlessly for stretches of time (9)

 6 Beginning of Polynesian travel show (5)

 7 Criticize one found between players and entrance (9)

10 Redirect transit, opting for departure area (8,5)

14 Legume is ingredient of soup, in to be a nutrient (5,4)

15 Crashed smack into symbols of wealth (4,5)

17 Goddess, going around table, spilled beverage (6,3)

22 “Gossip Psycho Ate NY” (5)

24 Almost accuse in connection with the subcontinent (5)

25 Crowd was licentious, by the sound of it (5)
 

ACROSS 1 anag. 9 PER (rev.) + CA + PITA 10 anag. 11 PEEV + ED (rev.) 12 SU(B.S.)ONIC (cousin anag.) 13 anag. 15 2 defs. 17 anag. 19 T(E(LES)C)OPIC 21 RODL + AVER (lord anag.) 23 LU(G)OS + I (rev.) 25 “nay” 26 anag. 27 anag.

DOWN 2 NOR(I)EGA (orange anag.) 3 PLA + C + EMAT (rev.) 4 UN-IT 5 G(RANUL)ATE (lunar rev.) 6 [l]EAVES 7 anag. 8 C + RACK + LECH + IN + A 9 POP(U)LAR + F(R)ONT 14 THEME + PARK 16 SCRUB + SUP 18 REID + DUM[b] (rev.) 20 PRO-DUCE 22 hidden 24 alternate letters