No 13857, Friday 05 May 2023, Arden

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

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ACROSS

1   Victor got in perhaps through this (6) VOTING {V}{GOT IN}* Semi&lit

4   Died fighting, may be perch was rather small (8) DWARFISH {D}{WAR}{FISH}

10 Romantic holiday trip? Oh, no, getting money changed (9) HONEYMOON {OH+NO}* over {MONEY}*

11 Container holding very big beast (5) BISON {BI{SO}N}

12 They're late for a cause (7) MARTYRS [CD]

13 One may be green, it varies (7) INTEGER*

14 Called a spade, managed to hold it back (5) NAMED [T<=]

15 Thrown at speed to mutilate (8) CASTRATE {CAST}{RATE}

18 "Come closer" - warn about falling in love (4,4) DRAW NEAR {D{WARN*}EAR}

20 Banker with wine drinking redhead (5) TRENT {T{Re...d}ENT}

23 "Transport strike takes first toll" - one tweets (4,3) BUSH TIT {BUS}{H{Toll}IT}

25 Another name for the German snake (7) MEANDER {NAME*}{DER}

26 Slow movement - left and right in the past (5) LARGO {L}{A{R}GO}

27 Gross undervaluation - video released, looks odd (9) UNNATURAL {UNdeRvALUATioN}*

28 "Last Game", rambling treatise on astronomy (8) ALMAGEST*

29 A pay order at close, it's included in the total (6) ADDEND {A}{DD}{END}

DOWN

1   Passionate to keep macho males in check (8) VEHEMENT {VE{HE MEN}T}

2   Chinese puzzle over insect on butter (7) TANGRAM {GNAT<=}{RAM}

3   Could be paid anyway, losing a capital (9) NAYPYIDAW {PAID+ANYWaY}* I always thought it is still Rangoon/Yangon!!

5   Overturn means trumpet, may be (4,10) WIND INSTRUMENT {INSTRUMENT}<=>{WIND}

6   A bill brought up by Republicans in capital (5) RABAT {A}{TAB<=}<=>{R}

7   Perception that thing is moving (7) INSIGHT*

8   Starved, one escaped from country (6) HUNGRY HUNGaRY

9   Drug is safe, bonkers to follow conkers (5,9) HORSE CHESTNUT {HORSE}{CHEST}{NUTS}

16 Took back grass covered land (9) RETRACTED {RE{TRACT}ED}

17 Shocked to see Bob eating dessert (8) STARTLED {S{TART}LED}

19 Platform to sort out booze (7) ROSTRUM {SORT*}{RUM}

21 Stop drug, hard to go back (7) ENDORSE {END}{hORSE}

22 Plant in China, be liable to be annexed (6) ABELIA [T]

24 Nothing different, in goes the strip (5) THONG NOTHinG*

Reference List

Victor = V, Died = D, Very = SO, Wine = TENT, The in German = DER, Left = L, Right = R, Pay order = DD, Republicans = R, Drug b= HORSE, Grass = REED, Bob = SLED, Hard = H