No 13196, Tuesday 16 Mar 2021, Dr. X

Solution to 27A 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   Associate escorted around by assistant in Australian city (8) ADELAIDE {A}{LED<=}{AIDE}

5   Some terrorist essentially caught by FBI at building (1,3,2) A BIT OF {t..rOr..t} in {FBI+AT}*

10 Primarily poor rating for movie trailer (7) PREVIEW {Poor}{REVIEW}

11 Most rush after member in transparent dress fabric (7) ORGANZA {ZAp}<=>{ORGAN}

12 A largely savoury meat jelly (5) ASPIC {A}{SPICy}

13 Starting affair with Greek character for bit of diversion (9) INCIPIENT INCI(-d+pi)PIENT

14 Craving and pain in tearful novel (7,5) LUSTING AFTER {LU{STING}AFTER*}

18 Press onwards to tackle United on park (6,6) FOURTH ESTATE {FO{U}RTH}{ESTATE}

21 Sausage made by pioneer’s fantastic, very soft inside (9) PEPPERONI {PE{PP}ERONI*}

23 Sozzled jailor spilling port wine (5) RIOJA JAIlOR*

24 Resolve shown by one working aboard flight (4,3) IRON OUT {1}{R{ON}OUT}

25 Slog in chase to secure a victory (7) TRAVAIL {TR{A}{V}AIL}

26 Chewy sweet in most of feedbags (6) TOFFEE [T]

27 Most ferocious battle killing many in peak (8) ?R?E?E?T ()

DOWN

1   Rise in circulation of a paper (6) APPEAR*

2   Excuse is old and mostly hollow (6) EXEMPT {EX}{EMPTy}

3   English-French battle out, racing animatedly (9) AGINCOURT*

4   Where an oral surgeon might be looking unhappy (4,2,3,5) DOWN IN THE MOUTH [DD]

6   Make famous Italian girl enter retro bar (3,2) BIG UP {B{I}{G}UP<=}

7   Tense performers going over new, touching lines (8) TANGENTS {T}{A{N}GENTS}

8   Fellow on track falls over during sprint resulting in this? (8) FRACTURE {F}{RAC{RUT<=}E} Semi&lit

9   Criminal firm, old, controlled by pig — it might put the squeeze on you? (3,11) BOA CONSTRICTOR {BOA{CON}{STRICT}{O}R}

15 Anteater moving around base of anthill every second (9) ALTERNATE {A{a...lL}TERNATE*}

16 Pontiff artfully preserves a little rare copy of article (8) OFFPRINT {OFFP{Rare}INT*}

17 Removes tramps around park getting high (5,3) BUMPS OFF {BUM{P}S}{OFF}

19 Enemy grabs kid in raid (6) FORAGE {FO{RAG}E}

20 Everyone enthralled by favourite straw mattress (6) PALLET {P{ALL}ET}

22 Consume couple of drugs outside bar (5) ERODE {E}{ROD}{E}

Reference List

Associate = A, United = U, Soft = P, Port = Left = L, Victory = V, Italian = I, Girl = G, Tense = T, New = N, Fellow = F, Old = O, Park = P, Drug = E