No 13796, Thursday 23 Feb 2023, Dr. X

Solution to 20D 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.

1 Across is Brilliant

ACROSS

1   Method of killing husband? Had poisoned rum slyly (5,8) MODUS OPERANDI {hAD+POISONED+RUM}*

8   Discontinues incorporating long jumps in figure skating (5) AXELS {AXE{L}S}

9   Shone in good series with England's captain crushed by outcome (9) GLISTENED {G}{LIST}{EN{En...d}D}

11 Badly treated husband, irritated and bored, seeks end of matrimony (4,4,2) HARD DONE BY {H}{AND+BORED}*{m...nY}

12 Woman chasing a tennis pro (4) ASHE {SHE}<=>{A}

14 Needs crackers to tackle company's ciphers (7) ENCODES {EN{CO}DES*}

16 Communicated with trafficker about getting hold of ecstasy finally (7) RELAYED {DEALER}<= over {e...sY}

17 Allow one cutting grass around park to go after end of chore (7) EMPOWER {M{P}OWER}<=>{c..rE}

19 Dismissal from job - lost home, have no money (5-2) HEAVE-HO {HOmE+HAVE}*

21 Retire and live without stress finally (4) EXIT{EXIsT}

22 Rebuking a cheat pursuing innocent person (10) LAMBASTING {A}{STING}<=>{LAMB}

25 Briefly, lottery is a random betting system (9) TOTALISER {LOTTERy+IS+A}*

26 Order some Vedic texts (5) EDICT [T]

27 Where knife is pointed in position of greatest difficulty (2,3,5,3) AT THE SHARP END [DD]

DOWN

2   Individual, endlessly wealthy, acquires island of dreams (7) ONEIRIC {ONE}{I}{RICh}

3  Confused as ball spun wide, bouncing over Dhoni's head (6,4)  UPSIDE DOWN {O+SPUN+WIDE}* over {Dh..i}

4   Element is argon perhaps (5) ORGAN*

5   Hug new bride excitedly in European capital (9) EDINBURGH {HUG+N+BRIDE}*

6   Bohemian band going topless (4) ARTY pARTY

7   Playing at Sydney, English lost in succession (7) DYNASTY {AT+SYDNeY}*

8   Desire to conduct one review about workforce's performance (11) ACHIEVEMENT {ACH{1}E}{VE{MEN}T}

10 Capturing criminal and rogue finally - want fearless person (11) DREADNOUGHT {D{AND+ROUGE}*H}{wanT} Anno for DH not clear (Addendum - {DR{AND+E}*OUGHT} - See comments}

13 Groups saving Earth cry for complete change (5,5) CLEAN SWEEP {CL{E}ANS}{WEEP}

15 Beats idiot involved in nobbling purses (9) SURPASSES {SURP{ASS}ES*}

18 Indicate mad tinpot dictators at Centre (5,2) POINT AT {TINPOT+d..tAt..s}* 

20 Omission of learner, one involved in rebellious row (7) E?I?I?N (Addendum - ELISION {L}{1} in {NOISE<=} - See comments)

23 Country formerly in trouble over money, beginning to advance (5) BURMA {RUB<=}{M}{Ad,,,e}

24 Expression of contempt about rival's latest bunkum (4) BLAH {B{r..aL}H}

Reference List

Husband = H, Long = L, Good = G, Company = CO, Park = P, Money = M, New = N, English = E, Earth = E, Learner = L