Solving time 15 minutes

Nothing really difficult today. A couple of old devices (the chicken and the watch) that if you haven't met them before might give a problem and a slightly old fashioned feel with 1930s terminology for necking and a socially unpopular 1970s business activity. I'm expecting some fast times today.

Across
1	COW-PARSLEY - (cops + lawyer)*; easy start; also known as mother-die, an invasive species;
6	SCOT - S-COT; small=S; simple dwelling=COT (inhabited by cottars); old tax;
10	ARTISTE - (sitar)*-TE; Jonathan Crowther perhaps who completes 40 years of compiling as AZED this week - well done Sir;
11	VIOLENT - VIOLE(N)T; N from (ruffia)N;
12	FIRST-BORN - FI(R)ST-sounds like borne; resistance=R (physics); the most driven of ones offspring;
13	MITRE - M(a)I(n) T(a)R(g)E(t); churchman's silly uniform;
14	AFOOT - A-FOOT; 30.48 centimeters;
15	DAMASCENE - MAD reversed - SCENE; this perhaps not the best of times for this clue to appear;
17	BANDICOOT - BANDI(COO)T; (bill and) COO is what sweethearts did in the 1930s; small urban marsupial;
20	IDEA'D - I-DEAD; very=DEAD; strange word;
21	TULIP - old watch=TURNIP then change RN=Royal Navy into L=left;
23	THORNLESS - T(H)ORN-LESS; H from (grap)H;
25	ORGANZA - ORGAN-Z(e)A(l); bridal material made traditionally from silk;
26	GLITTER - G-LITTER; Gary perhaps;
27	STYX - sounds like "sticks" where the swede gnawers come from;
28	BESTSELLER - (George) BEST-sounds like "cellar";
Down
1	CHAFF - C(H)AFF; greasy spoon=CAFF; CHAFF is better known these days as an anti-missile defence device;
2	WATER,DOWN - WATER(ship) DOWN; where the powers that be have recently decided to build, so fact follows fiction;
3	ASSET,STRIPPING - TESSA reversed - STRIPPING; in the property boom of 1970s buying a whole company, closing it down and then selling the land it owned to make a substantial profit as per Jim Slater and others;
4	STEROID - (a)STEROID; other asteroids include Eros, Iris and Juno;
5	ENVENOM - E(N)VEN-(h)OM(e);
7	CREST - the Dorking is a very old breed of chicken;
8	TITLE,DEED - TITLE(DEE)D; flower=river=DEE (there are several);
9	COMMISSIONAIRE - COMMIS-S(I-ON-AIR)E; deputy=COMMIS (particularly to the head wine waiter); Kent region=SE;
14	AMBITIOUS - AMBIT-IOUS;
16	ELEMENTAL - EL-E-MENTAL;
18	OUTRAGE - OUT-(all the)RAGE; not in=OUT;
19	THOUGHT - THOU-G(H)T; H from H(ad); GT=Grand Tourer, a term much abused by motor manufacturers;
22	LEGGY - L(EGG)Y; LY from L(iver)Y; pins=legs (slang); why are they always blonde?;
24	SORER - S(c)ORER; match official in cricket - Bill Frindall was the daddy;