No 14181, Wednesday 22 May 2024, Afterdark

Solution to 30A 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   Weak police officer catches knave at the beginning, luckily at the borders (6) SICKLY {SI}{Ca...s}{Kn..e}{Lu...lY}

4   Want radish? Cook in high pressure (8) HARDSHIP {H}{RADISH*}{P}

9   Washed with chlorine, jeans gets torn off in the edges (5) CLEAN {CL}{jEANs} POS error See comments

10 Explain in Tamil first, Peter will translate after adding some Russian (9) INTERPRET {IN}{Ta..l}{PETER*} over {Ru...n}

11 Skin is peeled off at the end, on top of knee at the place used for skating (4) RINK {RINd}{Knee}

12 When pressure is absorbed first, growth will be excellent (4) PLUM (+p)PLUM(-p)

13 Man's locked inside empty closet for a case (5) CHEST {Clo{HE'S}seT}

15 Let nuns run in passages (7) TUNNELS*

16 Outing is a mistake (4) TRIP [DD]

19 Endlessly frighten Mark (4) SCAR SCARe

20 Criminal to join at compound (7) CONFUSE {CON}{FUSE}

23 Basically all cops in Delhi seize chemical agents (5) ACIDS Acrostic

24 Report on famous archer (4) TELL [DD]

25 Rod is a European (4) POLE [DD]

27 Last vote absent? Retire involved Conservative from field (9) TERRITORY {RETIRe}*{TORY}

28 Districts are autonomous? Spill the guts (5) AREAS {ARE{Au...uS}

29 Between day and night, a hungry rook feasts regularly on blackout (8) DARKNESS {D}{A}{RooK}{N}{fEaStS}

30 Understood, losing heart is preferred (6) ?E?N?D (Addendum - LEANED LEArNED - See comments)

DOWN

1   Society of Engineers find old city buried in another with conviction (8) SECURITY {S}{E}{C{UR}ITY}

2   Bathing in gel can get clumsy (8) CLEANING*

3   Ring for couple (4) LINK [DD]

5   Claim TA, outlay is distributed routinely (13) AUTOMATICALLY*

6   Instructions at free counter has heading missing in parts (10) DIRECTIONS {RID<=}{sECTIONS}

7   More difficult for personnel to retain a primarily rebellious department engineer (6) HARDER {H{A}R}{D}{ER} What's the role of rebellious? (Correction - {H{A}{Re...s}{D}{E}R} - See comments)

8   Mostly oats getting cooked, getting placed behind a bowl of vegetable (6) POTATO {OATs}*<=>{POT}

10 Insults tailor severely for the embellishments (13) ILLUSTRATIONS*

14 Reverberation of supersonic sound (10) PERCUSSION* 

17 Regret about being frank, protecting a Frenchman perhaps (8) EUROPEAN {RUE<=}{OPE{A}N}

18 Severe jam in road, turned back (8) REVERSED {R{SEVERE*}D}

21 Needed a wicket in reverse swing, not dropping ball, held regularly (6) WANTED {A}{W}<={NoT}{hElD}

22 Show Mumbai Indians' run-rate? Zero by last over (6) MIRROR {MI}{RR}{O}{oveR}

26 Wife gets silver ear-rings first with allowance (4) WAGE {W}{AG}{Ea...s}

Reference List

High = H, Pressure = P, Day = D, Night = N, Society = S, Engineers = E, Old city = UR, Personnel = HR, Department = D, Road = RD, Wicket = W, Run-rate = RR, Wife = W