No 14053, Saturday 23 Dec 2023, Hypatia

ACROSS

1   State of German I pursued (7) MANIPUR [T]

5   Boxes taking out intellectuals (7) BOFFINS {B{OFF}INS}

9   I strive hard to consider again (7) REVISIT*

10 Behaviour of French firm's unusual (7) DECORUM {DE}{CO}{RUM}

11 Power secured in capital's old city (6) DELPHI {DEL{P}HI}

12 Country girl left university earlier (8) PORTUGAL {GAL}<=>{PORT}{U}

14 Relieves her as she is often stressed (5) EASES {hEr+As+ShE+iS}

16 Oil expert acting on a red alert? (3,6) ART DEALER*

18 Try adjusting rupee cost (9) PROSECUTE*

19 Do mean to yell at the beginning (5) PARTY {PAR}{To}{Yell}

20 Last in spite of everything (5,3) AFTER ALL [DD]

22 Steady horses (6) STABLE [DD]

26 Managed to wear one reflecting band in city (7) NAIROBI {R{1}AN<=}{OBI}

27 Caught a little leaf bitten by greener insect, say (7) CRAWLER {C}{RAW{Leaf}ER}

28 Abhors extremely disagreeable exams (7) DETESTS {Di...lE}{TESTS}

29 Two seconds to stop haemorrhage? That's lucky! (7) BLESSED {BLE{SS}ED}

DOWN

1   Respected American democrat left stuck in messy situation (5) MIRED adMIRED

2   Rising volcanic rock by ocean floor concerns ships (5) NAVAL {LAVA}{o..aN}<=

3   Spooner's present spread quickly (4-5) POST-HASTE (~host paste to post-haste)

4   Spoil Indian bread (4) ROTI {ROT}{I}

5   Oh! muted and minimized (3-7) BAD-MOUTHED {OH+MUTED}* [RA]

6   Feature of Church's solid walls (5) FACET {FA{CE}T}

7   Lawless guerrilla struggles ultimately switching sides (9) IRREGULAR {GUERRIL(-l+r)RA}*

8   By the same token slimy criminal shelters rotten liar (9) SIMILARLY {SLIMY}* over {LIAR*}

13 Accidents by negligent couples (10) CASUALTIES {CASUAL}{TIES}

14 Justified when former spouse got even, say (9) EXPLAINED {EX}{(~planed}PLAINED}

15 Successful candidates in a bear's roster (9) SHORTLIST {SHORT}{LIST}

17 Immigrant sacrificing right to speak (9) EXPATIATE EXPATrIATE

21 Cheats swindlers leaving clubs (5) ROOKS cROOKS

23 Locks and runs away (5) BOLTS [DD]

24 Pierre Dupont had made a mistake (5) ERRED [T]

25 Scoundrel in small taxi (4) SCAB {S}{CAB}

Reference List

Of in French = DE, Power = P, Left = PORT, University = U, Caught = C, Second = S, American = A, Democrat = D, Indian = I, Church = CE, Right = R, Clubs = C, Small = S