No 13502, Saturday 12 Mar 2022, Gussalufz

ACROSS

9   Marsh creature starts to bathe exuberantly and misbehave in a tub (6,3) BEAVER RAT {Ba..e}{Ex...y}{A}{V{ERR}AT}

10 Reluctant student’s promise (5) LOATH {L}{OATH}

11 Runs out opener of England after drinks, breaking hearts of her enthusiasts (7) ELAPSES {En...d}<=>{LAPS} in {hEr} and {e...uSi...s}

12 Drive one on off stump across point (7) IMPETUS {1}{MP{E}TUS*}

13 Fish tentatively at first, essentially fearing getting caught or bowled (5) TROUT {Te...y}{feaRing}{OUT}

14 Love, after getting busted, bro never really dominated (9) OVERBORNE {0}{BRO+NEVER}*

16 Disappointing sports headline in today’s paper, sadly about finals of championship football (4,7,4) RAIN STOPPED PLAY {IN+TODAYS+PAPER}* over {c...iP}{f...lL}

19 Sibling went for one fast mover (9) SPEEDSTER {S(-i+peed)PEEDSTER}

22 Sat waiting after killing one (5) POSED POiSED

24 Almost set fire to roti, but cooked something to eat (7) BURRITO {BURn}{ROTI*}

26 People avoiding alcohol without reverting to all shakes (7) TEETERS TEETotallERS

27 Bond’s kind of sarcastic — not right! (5) IONIC IrONIC

28 Exaggerating one’s virtues, for starters, gets ignored appropriately (9) OVERDOING {Ones}{Vi...s}{IGNORED*}

DOWN

1   A thing without love is worthless (6) ABJECT {A}{oBJECT}

2   Italian food again? Or a Cambodian selection from the south? (8) MACARONI [T<=]

3   Prepared some spells and tragic destinies (10) SENSITISED {Sp...s}{DESTINIES*}

4   Artwork voices fear of getting evenly rejected (6) FRESCO {vOiCeS+fEaR+oF}<=

5   Initiate wild kiss at step four? Not so fast! (6,2) STRIKE UP {KIss+at+STEP+foUR}*

6   Undergarment’s border (4) SLIP {S}{LIP}

7   Regrettable to lose some outer layers while flipping pakoras prematurely? (6) BATTER regRETTABle <=

8   See, this is funny — mischievous, full of certain innuendos that are out of bounds, without being sexual (8) CHASTELY Anno pending (Addendum - {C}{HA}{S{cerTain}{i..uEn..s}LY} - See comments)

15 Covers slices of egg, daikon, salami, and pepperoni within rotis, say (10) BEDSPREADS {B{Egg}{Da...n}{Sa...i}{Pe...i}READS}

16 Smriti’s bruise, unfortunately, sir, is tender again (8) RESUBMIT {sMriTis+BRUISE}* [CA]

17 Conservative from Oxford — hot, but not loud for a change (8) ORTHODOX {OXfORD+HOT}*

18 “Tap” featured prominently in Shafali’s ten innings (6,2) LISTEN IN [T]

20 Mission objective: capturing resistance gunners (6) ERRAND {E{R}{RA}ND}

21 Pretty Woman’s underrated at 60% (6) RATHER {HER}<=>{RATed}

23 Just what the doctor prescribed: South Indian food with a little gin quarter (6) DOSAGE {DOSA}{Gin}{E}

25 Edge... caught! And Jhulan Goswami finishes up with hat-trick on debut! (4) INCH {C}{j...nI}{g...mI}<={Ha...k}

Reference List

Misbehave = ERR, Promise = OATH, Student = L, Point = E, getting Caught or bowled = OUT, Love = 0, Sibling = SISTER, Went = PEED, Waiting = POISED, People avoiding alcohol = TEETOTALLERS, Kind of sarcastic = IRONIC, Right = R, 

Border = LIP, See = C, Funny = HA, Mischievous = SLY, Rotis = BREADS, Loud = F, Objective = END, Resistance = R, Gunners = RA(Royal Artillery), South Indian food = DOSA, Quarter = E, Caught = C

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Reference list word, Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Opposite indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous