No 14246, Tuesday 06 Aug 2024, Incognito

Solution to 2D 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

8   Base is 29/3 (4) FOOT {Yard/3)

9   Record of Chinese era (5) EPOCH {EP}{O}{CH}

10 Hole contains quarter... quarter of gallon (4) PINT {PI{N}T}

11 Arts students wearing runners used on snow (6) SKILLS {SKI{LL}S}

12 Utter: "Not in? Correct!" (8) OUTRIGHT {OUT}{RIGHT}

13 Build a castle having final part of staircase to go through the ceiling (8) ESCALATE {A+CASTLE}*{s...sE}

15 Getting defeated by including sine in logarithmic abbreviation (6) LOSING {LO{SIN}G}

17 Prisoner for ransom wrongly shot before time (7) HOSTAGE {SHOT*}{AGE}

19 Be quick to catch Labour leader in capital (7) BELFAST {BE}{La...r}{FAST}

22 Sailing yachtsman leaving NYC gets breathing problem (6) ASTHMA yAcHTSMAn*

24 Where fags may end up throwing trash, say (8) ASHTRAYS*

26 Badly damaged peanut is powdered after starting to break by sweetheart (6-2) BEATEN-UP {PEANUT}*<=>{Br..k}{swEet}

28 Gives back money as prey is mutilated (6) REPAYS*

30 Setter consumes one litre in 8 furlongs (4) MILE {M{1}{L}E}

31 Saint has strange way of playing guitar (5) STRUM {ST}{RUM}

32 Air conditioning by Royal Engineers in Israeli city (4) ACRE {AC}{RE}

DOWN

1   Task? Put one-fourth of rice into vessel (4) WORK {WO{Rice}K}

2   Veteran lays out law during commencement (8) ?T?L?A?T (Addendum - STALWART {STA{LAW*}RT} - See comments)) 

3   Whispers, "I am covering old West Asian country" (6) PERSIA [T]

4   Body part with the Spanish military officer (7) COLONEL {COLON}{EL}

5   Benign fib: "While tie is knotted" (5,3) WHITE LIE*

6   Mars soil covers top of pyramidical pole (6) SPOILS {S{Py...l}OIL}{S}

7   Indian children getting one-twelfth of 8 (4) INCH {IN}{CH} {Foot/12}

14 Locates vessel inside ship (5) SPOTS {S{POT}S}

16 A street in New York is horrible (5) NASTY {N{A}{ST}Y}

18 Girl and boy with cape delight (8) GLADNESS {G}{LAD}{NESS}

20 Preliminary action from drama following shout from golfer (8) FOREPLAY {PLAY}<=>{FORE}

21 Some music over drink results in mutual understanding (7) RAPPORT {RAP}{PORT}

23 Male assassins' item wrongly mentioned in hate note, for starters (3-3) HIT-MEN {Hate}{ITEM*}{Note}

25 Wrongly hears about maiden in zenanas (6) HAREMS {HARE{M}S*}

27 Madly in love? No, no! Wicked! (4) EVIL {In+LoVE}*

29 Yet another regular distance, for starters... (4) YARD Acrostic Semi&lit

Reference List

Record = EP(Extended Play), Of = O, Chinese = CH, Quarter = N, Student = L, Litre = L, Saint = ST, Royal Engineers = RE, The in Spanish = EL, Pole = S, Indian = IN, Children = CH, Ship = SS, Street = ST, Girl = G, Cape = NESS, Maiden = M