Times Crossword 25,714 - somewhere in Europe

Solving Time: 26 minutes. Having got 1ac and 1dn while the crossword was coming off the printer, I thought I was in for an easy one for once, but it was not to be. I got bogged down more than once, and I ended fairly pleased with my time. Like yesterday's, this crossword needs some GK. Whenever I don't know something I try to regard it as my shortcoming, rather than the crossword's.. and the GK required these days is far less than it used to be. So grin and bear it, and keep up with the reading... Oh, and it's a Y short of being a pangram.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(--), homophones indicated in ""

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across
1	farming - RAF rev., + porcelain = MING
5	bran tub - R, in language = BANTU + Book. I confess I only parsed this afterwards..
9	Asian pear - ASIAN + exercise = PE + hARd. You see them in Sainsbury's, but they don't look very tempting
10	union - college = UNI + ON, today's cricketing reference
11	cocktail dress - perhaps manhattan = COCKTAIL + location = adDRESS. I have vivid memories of drinking Southern Comfort manhattans, in my younger days..
13	aeronaut - cArEeR + NA in exposed = OUT
15	Portia - hidden in supPORT IAgo. My heart sinks rather when I see the word Shakespeare, because I am abysmally ignorant of his plays, but both these characters are familiar enough..
17	mohawk - Mile + fruit = HAW in OK. A reference, it appears to the River Mohawk and not the indian tribe or the hairdo.. Collins says: "a river in E central New York State, flowing south and east to the Hudson River at Cohoes: the largest tributary of the Hudson. Length: 238 km (148 miles)"
19	benefice - BE + *(FINE) + CE. Strictly a benefice is a living, not a church as such. In these parts it is used to refer to the office in charge of a grouping of five churches..
22	Newton's cradle - animal = NEWT + *(ANDROCLES) a clever and rather hard clue, referring to that toy with the suspended metal balls that keep going long enough, when you lift one and let it go, to give some credence to the law of  conservation of momentum - not expounded by Newton, but an implied result of his laws of motion...
25	T-bone - infection = TB + ONE
26	expensive - EX + PENSIVE
27	averted - RiTE in DEVA rev. I knew Deva from my Wirral days, but if someone said that was obscure GK, I probably would not argue... I think we had Eboracum recently too? Surely better known though
28	toolkit - Is this just a cd with no wordplay? It seems a rather eclectic mix of tools.
Down
1	flab - chap = ALF, rev. + Boot
2	railcar - clergyman = RR containing AIL + CA
3	Ionic - *(IN + vOICe). Ionian patois.. Collins: "One of four chief dialects of Ancient Greek; the dialect spoken in Ionia"
4	great auk - "grey talk." A sad bird that was too stupid to flee when it caught sight of humans, and suffered the inevitable consequences of our rapacity
5	Barrie - BARRIE(r), a reference to the well-known author of Peter Pan. Recalling any other of his many works is something of a struggle, though The Admirable Crichton may ring a bell..
6	Aquadrome - key = A + QUAD(recep) + *(MORE)
7	trident - cleansed = RID camping, ie in a TENT. Not just a black hole in our defence expenditure, but the weapon of choice for Poseidon, and various hapless gladiators that always seem to get killed easily by the hero in epic films about ancient Rome
8	boneshaker - doctor = BONES + fish = HAKE + R(iver)
12	jasmine tea - *(JAM IS EATEN).
14	New Forest - green = NEW + FORE + S(ho)T. Created about 1079 by William the Conqueror, so not all that new, really. Jimbo territory
16	decrepit - lay down = DECRE(e) + bed = PIT. I suppose a pit is a bed sometimes.. ODO has: "informal a person’s bed"
18	how come - O WC, in HOME
20	ice rink - Ireland = ERIN in (n)ICK. A topical clue!
21	Ostend - sort of map = OS (Ordnance Survey) + X = TEN + D(iamonds). A busy port "Somewhere in Europe," and within fairly easy reach of Calais, so I have been once or twice.
23	dingo - performing = DOING, with the O last
24	zest - (ga)ZE(bo) + (mo)ST(ly). Zest as in, I guess a zest for life