No 13172, Tuesday 16 Feb 2021, Gussalufz

At Chennai for a wedding, unfortunately no time to meet anyone.

Solution to 8D 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   Extremely rough translation of Socrates (8) COARSEST*

5   Workplace no longer using internal combustion engine (6) OFFICE {OFF}{ICE}

9   Tommy’s secret (7) PRIVATE [DD]

10 They might be keeping tabs on all singles, etc., about to get into cross-dressing (7) SCORERS {SCO{RE}RS*}

11 A broken pen and a lack of inspiration (5) APNEA {A}{PEN*}{A}

12 Lift operator crushed ... Om Shanti (8) HOISTMAN*

13 Saved a little chap getting hurt (6) CACHED {Chap}{ACHED}

14 Vehicles of love-laden, excited escorts (8) SCOOTERS {O} in {ESCORTS}*

18 New listeners: oddly, it’d be one flank of a horse or a car? (8) NEARSIDE {N}{EARS}{ItD+bE}

20 Come home from metro station, rushing briskly and taking only seconds (6) RETURN {fRom}{mEtro}{sTa...n}{rUs...g}{bRisk}{aNd}

23 Having the capacity to live without a drop of refreshing fluid (8) VARIABLE {V{A}{Re...g}IABLE}

25 Rude to change sides for status (5) CLASS C(-r+l)LASS

27 Trying a sour rum (7) ONEROUS {ONE}{SOUR*}

28 File away any rough chips, helping insure very even openings (7) ARCHIVE Acrostic

29 In poor taste to have ministry ultimately moving back to some coal plant production (3,3) FLY ASH FL(+y)YASH(-y)

30 Husband under-prepared; daughter and son get centuries (8) HUNDREDS {H}{UNDER*}{D}{S}

DOWN

1   A picnic arranged around two pieces of sandwiched essence of chillies (9) CAPSAICIN {A+PICNIC}* over {SAn...h}

2   Coin tossed after many denials, essentially, of a particular charge (7) ANIONIC {COIN*} after {mANy}{denIals}

3   Sailors from a great distance taken in by soothsayers (9) SEAFARERS {SE{AFAR}ERS}

4   Look at the rage! (6) SEETHE {SEE}{THE}

6   Bob regularly rejected team on left (5) FLOAT {TeAm+On+LeFt}<=

7   Repeat attire accidentally worn by me at last (7) ITERATE {ATTIRE}*{mE}

8   Different sizes under discussion (4) E?S? (Addendum - ELSE (~ ells) - See comments)

10 Replacement of wife for new betrayer (6) SWITCH S(-n+w)WITCH

15 Ice-cold A.I. replaced an organic substance found in plants and animals (5,4) OLEIC ACID*

16 Creative artists’ plea for help involving messy gents room for starters! (9) SONGSTERS {SO{GENTS*}{Room}S}

17 Homes in which walls of blackwood are swapped for bricks (6) ADOBES A(-b+d)DO(-d+b)BES

19 College Fashion Day came! (7) ACADEMY*

21 Nuke going off over gangster Gussalufz opposed? (7) UNALIKE {UN{AL}{I}KE*}

22 When you relive Javed’s shot getting cup, limitlessly (4,2) DEJA VU {JAVED*}{cUp}

24 Images of tragic onslaughts (5) ICONS [T]

26 Turn left and feminine! Game? (4) GOLF {GO}{L}{F}

Reference List

About = RE, New = N, Husband = H, Daughter = D, Son = S, Wife = W, Gangster = AL, Left = L, Feminine = F