No 13612, Tuesday 19 Jul 2022, WrdPlougher

Solution to 2D 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.

Much better today.

ACROSS

1   Radish, eggs, carrots — ingredients prescribed exclusively for starters, perhaps? (6) RECIPE Acrostic &lit

4   Interrogating tough (6) TRYING [DD]

9   Complain about cheat (4) LIAR<=

10 Barely spotting omen, acting all-powerful (10) OMNIPOTENT {sPOTTINg+OMEN}*

11 “Wear a bra, dear, it's showing” (6) ABRADE [T]

12 Well-educated people disposing of litter with AI (8) LITERATI {LITTER+AI}*

13 Provide support after wagtails finally cried about wing, pointing to the tail (9) SWEPTBACK {BACK}<=>{w...lS}{WEPT}

15 Perhaps NATO defence falling short (4) BLOC BLOCk

16 Atrocious acne attack (4) CANE*

17 Metallic, hard — not lead — heavy for weighing machine (9) STEELYARD {STEELY}{hARD}

21 Particle without spin, one negative displacing a bit of lepton (8) NEUTRINO NEUTR(-al+1no}INO

22 Buffalo-owner acquiring name and fame (6) RENOWN {OWNER}* over {N}

24 Like a risky proposition to offer lady having sex (3-3-4) HIT-AND-MISS {H{IT}AND}{MISS}

25 Sent back private text on social media with love twice, giving cheer (4) MOOD {DM<=} over {00}

26 “Not ours?” outraged inheritors — iron out (6) THEIRS inHErIToRS*

27 Reportedly outlawed Italian criminal (6) BANDIT {(~banned)BAND}{IT}

DOWN

1   Brown dancing with excellent coloured band (7) RAINBOW {BROWN}* over {A1}

2   Approximately drawn up arc without radius under semi-circle (5) C?R?A (Addendum - {ArC<=}<=>{CIRcle} - See comments)

3   Justify joke without substance, saying... (7) PROVERB {PROVE}{RiB}

5   ... “Judge not!”, totally upset about missing second mark (6) REPUTE {REf}{UPsET*}

6   Early pint, drunken exchange (9) INTERPLAY*

7   DNA-related information briefly mentioned, withdrawn (7) GENETIC {GEN}{CITE<=} (Correction - {GEN}{CITEd<=} - See comments)

8   A Christian coaching all to convert (5-8) ANGLO-CATHOLIC*

14 Enter... enter... tape malfunctions (9) PENETRATE*

16 Six naked sots chasing red sheep in England (7) CHEVIOT {VI}{sOTs}<=>{CHE}

18 Geographical area originally encompassing ancient place like India, unpopulated (7) EURASIA {En...g}{UR}{AS}{IndiA}

19 Skiff sailor returning, embracing bespectacled wife, beginning to blush (7) ROWBOAT {TAR<=} over {O{W}{Bl..h}O}

20 Exchange T&C in dating app to discover dying spark (6) CINDER (-t+c)CINDER

23 Unsteady person shifting domain? Not I (5) NOMAD DOMAiN*

Reference List

Name = N, Sex = IT, Italian = IT, Radius = R, Excellent = A1, Information = GEN, Sailor = TAR, Wife = W