Cryptic Crossword 1-8

Theme: Words with hesitation or is it without? Er .. ur .. um… I am not sure ;)

Across:

8 Leverage, abuse (def), leaderless (delete front letter of), cleavage (division), without (container) er (hesitation), not (deletion of) a (accepted)

9 Equine, nag (def), i (a), mischievously (anagram of) i + queen

10 Wilderness, open (def), wildness (recklessness), without (container), er (hesitation)

11 Reed, deer (Bambi for one), brought up (reversal), wimp (def)

12 Cassis, Liqueur (def), extract (hidden), rest is fodder

14 Anteater, Aardvark say (def), ate (consumed), core of (middle letter of) berry, after (position), ante (damage)

15 Remains, DD as in hangs around and as in corpse

17 Mediate, central (def), media (press), te (note)

20 Restrict, Re (note), strict (exact), limit (def)

22 Demote, bust (def), ED (a journalist), returning (reversal), wrong (anagram of), tome (book)

24 Leer, ogle (def), Le (the in French), 'er (cockney girl)

25 Naturalist, Darwin for example (def), natalist (pro-life proponent), admitting (container), ur (hesitation)

27 Wiener, I (tip from idiot i.e., first letter of idiot), engaged in (insertion), renew (repair), upset (reversal), Frank (def)

28 Renowned, re (again), now (groovy), ned (donkey), famous (def)

Down:

1 Retina, hidden (hidden), part of an eye (def), back (reverse scan), rest is fodder

2 Feed, freed (liberated), without (deletion), r (Republican), hand over (def)

3 Garrison, stormed (anagram of) soaring + r (resistance), military post (def)

4 Medevac, me (author), d (died), cave (grotto), retreat (reversal), rest is def

5 Jet set, Je (is in Slovenian), reversing (reversal), test (tax), glitterati (def)

6 Surrealism, 20th century avant-garde movement in art (def), s (paragon), realism (verismo), without (container), ur (hesitation)

7 Interest, busy (def), in (batting), test (five-day match), without (container), er (hesitation)

13 Scattering, couple (def), scatting (crooning), without (container), er (hesitation)

16 Exegesis, illustration (def), ex (one time), e.g. (example), E (English), sis (relative)

18 Enduring, eternal (def), ending (conclusion), without (container), ur (hesitation)

19 Stature, state (articulate), without (container), ur (hesitation), elevation (def)

21 Ignore, pass over (def), contents (hidden), rest is fodder

23 Tester, QA engineer for example (def), hides (hidden), written up (reverse scan), rest is fodder

26 Lewd, endlessly (deletion of last letter from) dwell (stay), up (reversal in a down clue), horny (def)