No. 9458, Tuesday, 17 Feb 09, Sankalak

Another nice and smooth crossword by Sankalak got through quite easily, again did add a few new words to my vocabulary
ACROSS
 1 - In a bank it may be current, to be important (7) - ACCOUNT
 5 - Mexican location where new copper was found in prison (6) – CA{N}{CU}N Nice place to go for a holiday sigh!!
11 - The fibre of French friend captured by British Engineers (5) – R{AMI}E
12 - Verb form used in times gone by, stressful (4,5) – PAST TENSE
13 - Inferior writing — to keep the kitchen fires burning (9) - POTBOILER
14 - Poetry from Shang//hai, Ku//ala Lumpur or Tokyo (5) - HAIKU
15 - Slope that models like to walk? (4) - RAMP
17 - Brilliant red mark, a hindrance (7) – {SCAR}LET
21 - Never growing old, like eagles flying around top of spire (7) – AGELES*{S}
22 - Hand out two notes (4) – {CE}{DE} (Addendum - CEDE is incorrect it should be {ME}{TE} from the song DO-RE-ME in the classic movie 'The Sound of Music')
26 - One who takes steps in reverse for a summing up (5) – RECAP <- 27 - Amusing or otherwise, he knows nothing (9) – IGNORAMUS*
29 - Such a question could be put to Google perhaps (9) - SEARCHING
30 - Subject for a top gear conservative (5) – TOP{I}{C}
31 - Bovine infuriator (3,3) – RED RAG I wonder why Bulls get irritated when they see red, and I also wonder if this is the origin of 'Seeing Red', must ggogle it to find out
32 - Put through the press to facilitate reading? (7) - PRINTED
DOWN
 2 - Celestial body that may arrive before end of Lent (5) – COME{T}
 3 - American state where //no gore// gets spilt (6) – OREGON*
 4 - Sodium on hand as a weapon (6) – NA{PALM} Extensively used to devastating effect by the US during the Vietnam war, I still remember the horrifying picture of a young vietnamese girl running away from the scene of a Napalm drop the picture won an international award for the photographer, look it up on the net
 6 - Player without the traditional virtues is opposed to girl’s love (8) – ANTI{HER}O
 7 - Creature dispatched, say, with one //deep// in trouble (9) – CENT{sent}I{PEDE*}
 8 - Birthmark that may trouble a Venus (6) - NAEVUS
 9 - Curtains for a healer, imitator on track (7) – DR{APE}RY
10 - Bird that is very big, beginning to turn full of calories (7) – OS<-{T}RICH
16 - Stick wielded by the conjurer (5,4) – MAGIC WAND
18 - Baldness of oil exporters, ‘inter alia’ (8) – AL{OPEC}IA
19 - Pain reliever for one hoping to lose tail (7) – ASPIRIN - g
20 - What a sailor cannot afford to be (7) – SEA SICK
23 - Tool for undoing a writer’s work (6) - ERASER
24 - Variety of wild ass from the //iron age// recently found (6) – ONAGER* Known in India as the Indian wild Ass and is a resident of the Rann of Kutch. A popular word forcrossword builders I have seen it many a time in crosswords
25 - A shrub to study, with decay inside (6) – C{ROT}ON The variety in Crotons is numerous, I still remember the large number of them that we used to have in our house when I was in school/college
28 - Tree with //ample// spread (5) – MAPLE* What a beautiful sight, reminds me of our very own CHINAR trees of the Kashmir valley a beautiful sight when they become a golden orange just before they shed their leaves

PS - I may not meet tomorrows dealine as I have to go to the airport to pick up a relative. Ciao till we meet again