No 13801, Wednesday 01 Mar 2023, Avtaar

Solution to 13A 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

1   Dull reading material (6) MATTER {MATTE}{R}

5   Rats start to nibble inside audio equipment after power cut (8) SNEAKERS {Sp{Ni...e}EAKERS}

9   Money lost in shopping centre by Avtaar gets announced every second (&lit.) (3-2-3) ALL-IN-ONE {mALL}{I}{aNnOuNcEd}

10 Hooked pipe filled with a mass (6) HAMOSE {H{A}{M}OSE}

11 Overwhelming song amidst picnic (12) OUTNUMBERING {OUT{NUMBER}ING}

13 Journalist returned on second March (4) ?E?O (Addendum - DEMO {ED<=}{MO} See comments  )

14 Go before receding volcano with boyfriend (8) ANTEDATE {ETNA<=}{DATE}

17 Lady heralding Queen holding women's coat from India (8) SHERWANI {SHE}{ER}{W}ANI Anno for ANI pending (Addendum - {SHE}{R{W}ANI} - See comments)

18 Agatha's work standard (4) NORM {N or M}

20 A river and sea corroded this range (6,6) SIERRA NEVADA*

23 Little beast's two young ones doing a flip-flop (3-3) DIK-DIK {KID}{KID}<=

24 English expert heading out towards the Orient (8) EASTERLY {E}{mASTERLY}

25 A set of books about unknown, empty metaphors that have contrary meanings (8) ANTONYMS {A}{NT}{ON}{Y}{Me...rS}

26 She misses a scheduled appointment with old husband and kid in retreat (2-4) NO-SHOW {W}{O}{H}{SON}<=

DOWN

2   Smart Alec stripped after babe undressed (4) ABLE {aLEc}<=>{bABe}

3   Focus of patriot and officer - my country's flag, perhaps? (9) TRICOLOUR {paTRIot}{COL}{OUR}

4   Places to spend the night close to lakes surrounded by moors (6) ROOSTS {ROO{l..eS}TS}

5   Uncertainty in stipulations covering reorganisation of Levant is beginning to unsettle Spain (15) SPECULATIVENESS {SPEC{LEVANT+IS+Un...e+E}S}

6   Old garments American pulled out for international parades (8) EXHIBITS {EX}{H(-a+i)IBITS}

7   Cambodian king held meetings engaging revolution's leaders (5) KHMER Acrostic

8   Right reasons to supply sound analysers (10) RESONATORS {R+REASONS+TO}*

12 Tradesman, basically trained in essentials of mechanics (10) TECHNICIAN {Tr...n+IN+mECHANICs}*&lit

15 Enjoyed hemming name on recycled women's wearand work overalls (9) DUNGAREES {DU{N}G}{(-s)AREE(+s)S}

16 God has transformed Kerala? Nonsense! (8) MALARKEY {MY} over {KERALA}*

19 Legendary doctor featured in "Retrospective of Glasnost - A watershed" (6) WATSON [T<=]

21 Entertaining player of Broncos? (5) RODEO [CD]

22 Cut, cold potatoes (4) ALOO ALOOf

Reference List

Reading = R, Power = P, Money = M, Mass = M, Journalist = ED, Second = MO, Queen = RANI, Women = W, English = E, Set of books = NT, Unknown = Y, With = W, Old = O, Husband = H, Stipulations = SPECS, Spain = E, American = A, International = I, Right = R, Name = N, God = MY!