No 13237, Monday 03 May 2021, Hypatia

Lockdown Day 6 of 14 Stay Safe

Solution to 18D 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

9   Do this to let Chinese speak on taboo subject (5,3,7) BREAK THE SILENCE {LET+CHINESE}* [RA]

10 Oddly, soul rap albums provide something extra (7) SURPLUS {SoUp+RaP+aLbUmS}

11 Electronic record featuring, say poet (7) ELEGIST {E}{L{EG}IST}

12 Entertainment venue in essence, having horrible glitch (5-4) NIGHT-CLUB {N{GLITCH*}UB}

14 Tropical coasts contain green fish (5) TRAWL {T.,p{RAW}i..L)

17 No longer existing — dead etc., in other words without pleasure (7) DEFUNCT {D}{E{FUN}CT*}

19 Quote from additional court (7) EXTRACT {EXTRA}{CT}

21 Man absorbed by strange cold (5) RHEUM {R{HE}UM}

23 According to Spooner, “select paneer”, for a ‘Channa’, say (5-4) CHICK-PEAS (~pick cheese tp chick-peas)

25 Expert training teams or retiring (7) MAESTRO {TEAMS*}{OR<=}

27 Affectionate soldier’s sweet (7) FONDANT {FOND}{ANT}

30 What an artist might do to get some privacy? (4,3,8) DRAW THE CURTAINS [DD]

DOWN

1   Bird surrounded by hibiscus (4) IBIS [T]

2   Anxiety of French auditor? (4) FEAR {F}{EAR}

3   What every body has is seen with no body? (8) SKELETON [CD]

4   Cheat’s tool (6) CHISEL [DD]

5   Gather blood type in measles rash (8) ASSEMBLE {ASSEM{B}LE*}

6   Though abstinent initially, engineer drunk bottles (6) ALBEIT {Ab...t}{L{BE}IT}

7   Against accepting new thought / idea, basically (4) ANTI Acrostic &lit

8   First defeat (4) BEST [DD]

12 Revolutionary fled pinching princess' bottom (5) NADIR {NA{DI}R<=}

13 Spotted animal leaving Island’s river by mistake (5) GAFFE GirAFFE

15 A little vegetable in mature plant (5) AGAVE {AG{A}{Ve...e}E}

16 Kamala from India, left for President Biden, say (5) LOTUS (-p+l)LOTUS

18 Struggling Indian rocket gains velocity to barely function (4,4) T?C? O?E?  (Addendum - TICK OVER {I+ROCKET}* over {V} - See comments)

20 Watch bag containing American know-how (4,4)  TAKE NOTE {T{A}{KEN}OTE}

22 Mum wearing a shirt for a change (6) MUTATE {MUT{A}{T}E}

24 Fine European nation under hot stream (6) INFLUX {F}{LUX}<=>{IN}

25 Approach was cut down, we hear (4) MODE (~mowed)

26 Antelope drops tail to dash (4) ELAN ELANd

28 Like preparing endlessly (4) AKIN mAKINg

29 Duty of bar discarding male's protective gear (4) TASK {T}{mASK}

Reference List

Electronic = E, Dead = D, Court = CT, French = F, Princess = DI(Diana), Island = I, River = R, Left = L, President = P, American = A, Shirt = T, Fine = F, Hot = IN, Male = M