No 13904, Thursday 29 Jun 2023, WrdPlougher

Solution to 9A 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.

Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

1   Communist fighting back to alter map (6) REDRAW {RED}{WAR<=}

4   Working out a maths problem, breathing (6) ASTHMA*

9   Article 5 imposed centrally by western State (4)  ?V?W (Addendum - AVOW {A}{V}{impOsed}{W} - See comments)

10 Detailed entry payment for landowner (6,4) GROUND RENT {ENTRy}* [RA supposedly]

11 Series of petitions not applicable after half a month (6) NOVENA {NA}<=>{NOVEmber}

12 Saints leaving volatile southeast, mainly foreseeing refreshing place? (8) TEAHOUSE {sOUtHEAsT}* +{f..eSEe..g}

13 Drinks, sings off-key, devouring fish (3,6) GIN SLINGS {SINGS}* over {LING}

15 Outskirts of Chennai, trendy Metropolis (4) CITY {Ch...aI}{Tr..dY}

16 Curb social media, primarily restricting return of Meta essentially (4) STEM {So...l}{mETa<}{Me..a}

17 Like a gymnast, (robotic) — giving up love for a circus act initially — travelling west and coming first (9) ACROBATIC {ROB(-o+a)ATIC}<=>{Ci...s}{Act}<=

21 "Apt cut, Ed! Garbled sticky material." (4,4) DUCT TAPE*

22 Seconds (once more) of food served at The Hindu canteen perhaps? (6) THRICE {RICE}<=>{TH} Definition not understood? What's the role of 'canteen perhaps'?

24 Froth at the mouth every fortnight since COVID emergence, having hot fever (10) EFFERVESCE {Ev..y}{Fo...t}{Si..e}{Co..d}{Em...e} over {FEVER*}

25 Defeat a knocked-out beast (4) BEST BEaST

26 Without difficulty, without boundaries, team CSK and in-focus players winning IPL; on vacation (6) EASILY {tEAm}{cSk}{plaYers} over {IpL}

27 A plane without fuel finally ejecting disorderly idler (6) GLIDER {e...nG}{IDLER*}

DOWN

1   Stuffed pasta ricotta into hungry mouths of little imps with a bit of vermicelli (7) RAVIOLI {Ri...tA}{IntO}{Li...e}{Imps} over {Ve...i}

2   Dip end of straw in shot (5) DOWSE {DO{s..aW}SE}

3   Two articles essentially published about three letters in order to make money (7) AFGHANI {A}{AN}{p..lIs..d} over {FGH}

5   Town in Afghanistan that may span a foot? (6) SANDAL [DD]

6   Organ of the mouth working oddly in chap following damage (9) HARMONICA {ON}{In+ChAp}<=>{HARM} 

7   Pardon criminal men in a den (7) AMNESTY {A}{MEN*}{STY}

8   Running to catch geese to get energy, source of protein? (7,6) COTTAGE CHEESE {TO+CATCH+GEESE}* over {E}

14 Flowering plants beginning to secrete stinky liquid, runny paste (5,4) SWEET PEAS {Se...e}{WEE}{PASTE*}

16 Beginning to ululate very loudly, overwhelmed by one soft sound (7) SOUFFLE {SO{Ul...e}{FF}LE} 

18 Abandon morals for money? On the contrary, prove a better salesperson (7) OUTSELL {SELL<=>OUT} How does on the contrary indicate splitting and interchanging parts of a word?

19 One of 32 Ronin briefly going north, sheltering 101st leader of Samurais (7) INCISOR {RONIn<=} over {CI}{Sa...i}

20 Omar Velasquez's wonder (6) MARVEL [T]

23 Extremely violent sailor cutting free (5) RABID {R{AB}ID}

Reference List

Not applicable = NA, Saints = STS, Energy = E, Loud = F, 101 = CI, Sailor = AB