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ACROSS

 1 Puts down notices about beginning of Lent (7)

 5 Before a month in France, I became dull (6)

 8 System based on this number is overturned in flat contradiction (5)

 9 Compulsive smoker originally getting into mixture of e-cig and painkiller (9)

11 To serve the public good, Lowe gets into a river? I don’t think so (3,4)

12 Relaxation at health resort is extremely meager (7)

13 Fairy tale recalled in Tangled (10)

16 Hock a chessman (4)

18 Told a story in song (4)

19 Enormous tar gun assemblage, with some components reused (10)

21 Stood awkwardly, captivated by politically correct scholar who just got the third degree? (7)

23 Free lecture conceals part of political message (7)

25 I raced backward ahead of vehicle with blue décor? (6,3)

26 Dog found in Quebec or Gibraltar (5)

27 Addict embraces start of rehab with a buddy (6)

28 Unit in semi-ruined Southern city (7)

DOWN

 1 Suspiciously, we snoop around endless Caribbean music in catastrophic weather event (13)

 2 Wrought iron surrounds top of traditional entrance (5)

 3 Sacred building: outstanding (8)

 4 “The Age of Dr Pepper” omits drama’s opening in TV show (4,5)

 5 Stapleton and Dujardin: they’re often blue (5)

 6 Dance was held upside-down—that’s a puzzle (6)

 7 Futons are unsuitable for a vampire (9)

10 Roman statesman and diarist uses the Internet to sell a whip (3-1-4-5)

14 Physicist broils hen in a stew (5,4)

15 Exponent of beer flow announced (9)

17 Micronet reconfigured for a local communication tool (8)

20 Counsel the opposite of BC virtue? (6)

22 Vegetable is burned, we hear (5)

24 What encompasses things of beauty? The world (5)

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3356  

ACROSS 1 BOUND + ARIES 6 init. letters 10 anag. 11 anag. 12 MO(VI)E + S (&lit.) 13 LAB OR E.R. 15 NO + IS + Y 16 IN CREASES 19 NAT TUR (anag.) + NER[d] 21 PU-[r/L]-SE 22 O + PINION 25 OUT BOX 27 M(NEMON)ICS (no men rev.) 28 MUST-Y 29 2 defs. 30 DEPRE(CIA)TE (petered anag.)

DOWN 1 BAT + H 2 anag. 3 DE(NS)ITY 4 anag. 5 anag. 7 [m]UTTER 8 FOR + TRESSES 9 DA(BB)LE 14 UNI(N)FORMED 17 CUR(IOUS)ER 18 anag. (&lit.) 20 UN IS ON[e] 21 camo top rev. 23 ten pi anag. 24 NA(I)VE 26 “liar”