No 13220, Tuesday 13 Apr 2021, Avtaar

Solution to 29A 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.

Tough one today.

ACROSS

1   What is paid for maintenance of luxury car in a large city (7) ALIMONY {A}{LIMO}{NY}

5   Spiderman’s weapon — on Batman’s portal? (3,4) WEB PAGE {WEB}{PAGE}

10 Man, perhaps, leaving a passage? (4) ISLE aISLE

11 Company’s chief batting for woman taking bribes... in the end, it spells trouble (3,2,5) CAN OF WORMS {Co...y}{FOR+WOMAN}*{b...eS}

12 Doctor stops one condition of the eyelids (6) PTOSIS {STOPS+1}*

13 Psalms from Indian religious work or its edited version (8) I?T?O?T? (Addendum - INTROITS {I}{NT}{OR+ITS}*- See comments)

14 Payments from sweet song about old king (9) HONORARIA {HON}{O}{R}{ARIA}

16 Metal tip of spear pierces fish (5) BRASS {B{s..aR}ASS}

17 Train’s audible signal (5) QUEUE (~choo) (Correction - (~ cue) - See comments)

19 A lot many return and rally round farm worker (5,4) DAIRY MAID {MYRIAD<=}{AID}

23 Passage leads to ancient, legendary location encircling Yemen’s wadis, ending in Sana’a yard (8) ALLEYWAY {An...t}{Le...y}{Lo...n}{En...g}{Ye..n}{Wa..s}{s..aA}{Y}

24 Sign over ä troubled mutual (6) UMLAUT*

26 Insubstantial spread — slice of pita bread with oats (10) PASTEBOARD {Pita+BREAD+OATS}*

27 Sentimental, short message on social medium (4) TWEE TWEEt

28 Cocoons in nests designed with extremely cosy interiors (7) ENCYSTS {EN{CosY}STS*}

29 Spooner describes river originating at range (7) ?R?E?O? (Addendum - FREEDOM (~ dee from to freedom)

DOWN

2   Hotels constructed over land (7) LESOTHO {HOTELS*}{O}

3   John hides — Avtaar looks (5) MIENS {M{I}ENS}

4   Firm invested in Asia’s re-development without initially arranging capital (7) NICOSIA {CO} in {IN+aSIA}*

6   Played out an act on the radio (6) EFFETE (~effort) (Correction (~a feat - See comments)

7   Monograph about representation of sounds with symbols (9) PHONOGRAM*

8   Wild fowl rears laid eggs (7) GAMETES {GAME}{SET<=}

9   Act to restrict reproduction? (4-6,3) ANTI-PIRACY LAW [CD] One reason why I don't like CD's!

15 Old store drapes upper class clothing line lavishly (9) OPULENTLY {O}{P{U}LENT{L}Y}

18 University close to Pakistan’s south gets student to forget lessons (7) UNLEARN {U}{p...aN}{EARN(-s+l)L} (Correction - {U}{N{L}EAR}{p...aN} - See comments)

20 Policeman’s beat starting out from lawns close to the river (7) ROUNDER {gROUND}{thE}{R}

21 Stylish opener for England run out in an unusual manner before delivery (2,5) IN UTERO {IN} and {En...d} in {R+OUT}*

22 Inferior dope, doctor’s injected (3-3) TWO-BIT {TW{OB}IT}

25 Machine-cut soap (5) LATHE LATHEr

Reference List

Sweet = HON, Indian = I, Religious works = NT, Old = O, King = R, Yard = Y, Over = O, John = MENS, Upper class = U, Line = L, University = U, Student = L, River = R,  Run = R, Doctor = OB