No 13867, Wednesday 17 May 2023, Vidwan

Solution to 24D 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   Serving (drinks) without good reason (5) ROUND gROUND

4   Lavish display of concern! Nothing explosive! (8) LOVEBOMB {LOVE}{BOMB}

9   Sweet wad of tobacco infused with dash of scented tar (7) CUSTARD {CU{Sc...d}{TAR}D}

10 She is engaged in face-off with extremist fringe (7) FIANCEE {IN+FACE}*{f...gE}

11 Close contract with kiss (4,3,4) NECK AND NECK {NECK}{AND}{NECK}

14 Design of universal craft (3) UFO {OF+U}*

15 Runs new trades in secure jail (6) IMMURE IMMU(-n+r)RE

17 This suicide attack means a warning, could turn into near-war again in Kashmir (8)  HARAKIRI {HA}{wAR<=}KIRI {HARAKIRI+MEANS+A+WARNING*}={NEAR+WAR+AGAIN+IN+KASHMIR} [CA]

19 Indian Railway carriage wasted water (8) IRRIGATE {IR}{RIG}{ATE}

20 Girl spies shadowing a legendary boxer (6) ALICIA {CIA}<=>{ALI}

22 Slight, slight, slight adjustment (3) TAD [T]

23 One's left trapped in a capital city with oddly built-in natural rock (5-6) LAPIS-LAZULI {LA P{1'S}{L}AZ}{bUiLt In}

25 Scientist sort of sorted essence of magnetism (7) OERSTED {SORTED+m..nEt..m}*

27 Some Khan? Um...a notable bhakta of Rama! (8) (7) HANUMAN [T]

29 Very objective entity regularly ignored, leading to avoidable feud (8) VENDETTA {V}{END}{EnTiTy}{Av...e}

30 Sing extremely youthful, entertaining song (5) YODEL {Yo...{ODE}...L}

DOWN

1   Playing it cool in race and in dispute resolution (14) RECONCILIATION {IT+COOL+IN+RACE+IN}*

2   Boost is ulimately a source of energy! (3) UPS {UP}{iS}

3   India naturally embraced this Royal (5) DIANA [T]

4   Snobbish boy, one would avoid at first (2-2-2) LA-DI-DA {LAD}{I'D}{Av..d}

5   Very hard and loud kind of radio (3) VHF {V}{H}{F}

6   African-American man reports extortion (9) BLACKMAIL {BLACK}{(~male)MAIL}

7   Most powerful Indian state, one couple of centuries preceding earliest of historical urban settlement in Americas (5,6) MACHU PICCHU {MACHo}{UP}{1}{CC}{Hi...l}{Ur..n} Semi&lit

8   A lot in media on new spreading of a religious sect (14) DENOMINATIONAL {A+LOT+IN+MEDIA+ON+N}*

12 Togetherness - a dream, I care about! (11) CAMARADERIE*

13 Turnover of processed cheese (4) EDAM<=

16 Controlled and mostly normal kind of expert talks (9) REGULATED {REGULAr}{TED}

18 Stage set up quietly (4) STEP {SET*}{P}

21 Allergic symptom that hampers man's aspiration basically (6) ASTHMA Acrostic  &lit

24 Objector in a bit of bother (5) A?N?Y (Addendum - ANNOY {AN{NO}Y} - See comments)

26 Party time Elvis (3) DOT {DO}{T}

28 Wild nuts (3) MAD [DD]

Reference List

Good = G, Universal = U, Runs = R, Very = V, Hard = H, Loud = F, Century = C, New = N, Quietly = P, Time = T