No 13012, Wednesday 12 Aug 2020, Avtaar

Solution to 24A 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   Floor panel (6) BAFFLE [DD]
4   Controversial lodge in Seattle’s outskirts getting finished externally (8) DISPUTED {PUT} in {Se...lE} in {DID}
9   A message about gutted backcountry ravines (6) ABYSMS {A}{Ba...rY}{SMS}
10 Pressure for student in wall-climbing stunt (8) ESCAPADE ESCA(-l+p)PADE
11 Who, perhaps, seals orders (14) PRONOUNCEMENTS {PRONOUN}{CEMENTS}
13 Extremely fast percussion playing (10) SUPERSONIC*
14 Avtaar’s second letter (4) MEMO {ME}{MO}
16 Bond will ultimately sign (4) LINK {wilL}{INK}
18 Pick up, among others, one young girl accompanied by adult, on the return journey (10) ASSIMILATE {ET AL}{1}{MISS}{A}<=
21 Manchester United, playing without club’s regular members, is a huge let-down (14) DISHEARTENMENT {MANcHESTER+uNITED}*
23 A crime leader is killed — butchered by John of Nebraska (8) AMERICAN {A}{cRIME*}{CAN}
24 Study antecedents of old Velasquez originals over again (2,4) ?E ?O?O (Addendum - DE NOVO {DEN}{Old}{Ve...z}{Or...s} - See comments))
25 Flood ravaged Uttar Pradesh’s interiors, barring accesses to Rishikesh and Dehradun (8) SATURATE {UTTAR+prAdESh}*
26 Capital A’s? (6) ATHENS (A then S)

DOWN
1   Flyer for promotion is terrible, filled with lapses at the intro (4) BLAD? {B{La...s}AD} Couldn't find this in a dictionary? See comments
2   Spooner advised judge to shake this deadly plant (7) FLYTRAP (~try flap)

3   Luxembourg college rusticated senile, vacuous expert (8) LUMINARY {LU}{seMINARY}
5   Debugger? (11) INSECTICIDE [E]
6   Mountain climbing starts to stimulate many adventurers — it is in their blood (6) PLASMA {ALP<=}{St...e}{Many}{Ad...s} Semi&lit
7   Cadet is pouring water in shirt (7) TRAINEE {T{RAIN}EE}
8   Crossed blue denims and embroidered tops could be informal (5,4) DRESS CODE {CROSSED}*{De...s}{Em...d} Semi&lit
12 University’s head attendant — not vigilant (11) UNOBSERVANT {U}{NOB}{SERVANT}
13 Carefree youth talks about Disney hero leaving home (5,4) SALAD DAYS {S{ALADDin}AYS}
15 Most transparent, intricate slim fit trimmed dress (8) FILMIEST {SLIM+FIT+drEss}*
17 Most curious, spiralling section of Lhotse is onscreen (7) NOSIEST [T<=]
19 I am not starting to eat wild reptile or bird (7) AMNIOTE {I+AM+NOT+Eat}*
20 Revolutionary controlled naysayer (6) DENIER<=
22 Officers’ school regularly gets awards at the finale (4) COLS {sChOoL}{a...dS}

Reference List
Pressure = P, Student = L, Second = MO, Adult = A, John = CAN, Shirt = TEE, University = U, Home = IN

Dr RKE's TalePiece

The clock on my computer reads 08.10 and I am still BAFFLEd by the 13D and16A. I am unlikely to complete a tale and send it to the COL’s blog today, unless I think up something at a SUPERSONIC speed. Maybe, this would turn out to be a short MEMO rather than a colourful tale.  

I have to climb out of this ABYSM of inertia, conjure up something DE NOVO (should it not have been 2,4 instead of 6 - what is the PRONOUNCEMENT of the  LUMINARIES in this blog on the enumeration?) and ensure that there is no BLAD.  It cannot be DISPUTED that this offering from Avtaar was SATURATEd with some very clever word play. One has a tough time to ASSIMILATE the parsing of say, 25DA. Avtaar sends you on an exciting ESCAPADE, trying to  get INSECTICIDE from ‘debugger’ because you are likely to be thrown off the scent, thinking of some software stuff.

One really needs to keep checking one’s instincts that makes one think of ‘flimsiest’ when actually it is FILMIEST. Probably the unraveling gene must be in your PLASMA to separate the ‘mountain’ and the ‘climbing’ to get ALPS ß in 6D. It is easy for a TRAINEE solver to fall into the FLYTRAP that is suggested by ‘Lhotse’, as the reverse reading indication is so subtle in 17D (NOSIEST). Incidentally, I looked up on Google and found ‘Lhotse’ to be an AMERICAN jacket. 

But veterans on this blog will assure the newbies that one has to slog on, without any DISHEARTENMENT, if one has to come out with all ‘A’ grades. Any DENIERS?