No 13631, Wednesday 10 Aug 2022, Lightning

Solution to 23A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS

1   Everything that exists in a French poem is gripping individual (8) UNIVERSE {UN}{1}{VERSE}

5   Design by alien for earth, perhaps (6) PLANET {PLAN}{ET}

9   Specialist doctor at hospital, not new, filled with excitement (8) ENTHUSED {ENT}{H}{USED}

10 Division of group of fish partly is methodical to begin with (6) SCHISM {SCHool}{IS}{Me...l}

12 Praise guest contributing to smooth transition (5) SEGUE [T]

13 Reasoning ability of fashionable cashier curtailed by court (9) INTELLECT {IN}{TELLEr}{CT}

14 Party with couple of unknowns in Andromeda, perhaps (6) GALAXY {GALA}{X}{Y}

16 King is missing the first holy book causing laughter (7) RISIBLE {R}{IS}{bIBLE}

19 Camera I lost in country (7) AMERICA*

21 Hasty escape after row in a place of confusion (6) BEDLAM {LAM}<=>{BED}

23 What may be happening to one mark of error pending a correction (9) E?P?N?I?G (Addendum - EXPANDING - {X+PENDING+A}* - See comments)

25 Searches dissolute person joining society (5) RAKES {RAKE}{S}

26 Medium, second perhaps, not left in what one is made of (6) MATTER {M}{lATTER}

27 Influence more or less substantial (8) HANDSOME {HAND}{SOME}

28 Where a batsman might start to feel nervous (6) NINETY [CD]

29 Use sling to change grotesque appearance (8) UGLINESS*

DOWN

1   Anxious peacekeepers essentially annoy many in the end (6) UNEASY {UN}{tEASe}{manY}

2   Giant tree chopped up to make part of larger unit (9) INTEGRATE*

3   Avoid press release wasted in the beginning (5) ELUDE prELUDE

4   State's commercial venture provided yen (7) SPECIFY {SPEC}{IF}{Y}

6   Scaled oil rig restricted to a place (9) LOCALISED*

7   Innocent citizen leaving Thailand (5) NAIVE NAtIVE

8   Cook to steam ordinary vegetables (8) TOMATOES {TO+STEAM+O}*

11 It's primary shining throughout a region (4) STAR Acrostic Semi&lit

15 Lamenting misplaced alliance (9) ALIGNMENT*

17 Left behind outside with depression — one may not get out of it (5,4) BLACK HOLE {B{L}ACK}{HOLE}

18 Beer introduced in ship by gent — he can be persuasive (8) SALESMAN {S{ALE}S}{MAN}

20 A police branch is sharp (4) ACID {A}{CID}

21 Large explosion — it's supposed to have created one (3,4) BIG BANG {BIG}{BANG}

22 Reckon beasts of burden slow at first (6) ASSESS {ASSES}{Slow}

24 Where a race car may stop with side spike (5) PITON {PIT}{ON}

25 Primarily rectified a distraught individual's important bones (5) RADII Acrostic

Reference List

A in French = UN, Individual = I, Alien = ET, Specialist doctor = ENT, Hospital = H, Fashionable = IN, Court = CT, Unknowns = X,Y, King = R, Mark of error = X, Society = S, Medium = M, Left = L, Peacekeepers =- UN, Yen = Y, Thailand = T, Ordinary = O, Ship = SS, Side = ON

No 13630, Tuesday 09 Aug 2022, Incognito

Solution to 26A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS

8   Large container with a fish (4) TUNA {TUN}{A}

9   Icelandic animal? (5) ELAND [T]

10 English mother makes cheese (4) EDAM {E}{DAM}

11 Thrust thick cord into empty pail (6) PROPEL {Pa{ROPE}iL}

12 Following orders and wriggling toe in bed (8) OBEDIENT*

13 Justifies tirades after conflict (8) WARRANTS {RANTS}<=>{WAR}

15 Praises a lieutenant during wild sex (6) EXALTS {EX{A}{LT}S*}

17 In favour of drink? Abandon! (7) FORSAKE {FOR}{SAKE}

19 Saint fared badly and attacked repeatedly from low-flying aircraft (7) STRAFED {ST}{FARED*}

22 Wild rage in front of an American president (6) REAGAN {RAGE*}{AN}

24 Wrongly get and weigh albumen (3,5) EGG WHITE {GET+WEIGH}*

26 Auditor takes loan giver's machine (8) ?A?E?D?R (Addendum - CALENDER {CA}{LENDER} - See comments)

28 Plump insect goes around Spanish hotel (6) FLESHY {FL{ES}{H}Y}

30 Vehicle with energy protection (4) CARE {CAR}{E}

31 Guy's starting to investigate acute madness (5) MANIA {MAN}{In...e}{Ac..e}

32 Carve child following alien (4) ETCH {CH}<=>{ET}

DOWN

1   Funnily, Portugal releases plot for a kind of bean (4) GUAR poRtUGAl*

2   Fortifications containing animal bits (8) RAMPARTS {RAM}{PARTS}

3   German capital found invested in rubber lingerie (6) BERLIN [T]

4   Virginia and animal go away (7) VAMOOSE {VA}{MOOSE}

5   Then read damaged sticker (8) ADHERENT*

6   Perhaps the press and TV covered new city (6) MEDINA {MEDI{N}A}

7   Waving wand to make sun rise? (4) DAWN*

14 Residence built using adobe components (5) ABODE*

16 Two models carrying rescue equipment abroad initially give medical care (5) TREAT {T}{Re...e}{Eq...t}{Ab...d}{T}

18 Itinerant monks dig in countries ruled by monarchs (8) KINGDOMS*

20 Met a Chinese First lady carrying one daughter (8) ACHIEVED {A}{CH}{EVE}{D} over {1}

21 Fish having that lady's piece of jewellery (7) HERRING {HER}{RING}

23 Selfish desire to posses yen became older (6) GREYED {GRE{Y}ED}

25 Joker returns, carrying uniform, with a couple of females, getting huge laughter (6) GUFFAW G{U}{FF}AW<=}

27 Sadly, salad is rejected, after removing out a bit of dressing (4) ALAS SALAd<=

29 Pledge pawn (4) HOCK [DD]

Reference List

English = E, Mother = DAM, Saint = ST, Spanish = ES, Hotel = H, Energy = E, Child = CH, Alien = ET, New = N, Model = T, Chinese = CH, Daughter = D, Yen = Y, Uniform = U, Female = F