No 14357, Monday 16 Dec 2024, KrisKross

 Solution to 16D 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 solve, if not solved by 1 PM

ACROSS

1 Default career - "Green Energy" (6) RENEGE {GREEN*}{E}

4 End of hapless sailors in spacecraft (8) STARSHIP {haplesS}{TARS}{HIP}

10 Dirty cat's home filled with basically ugly whiskers (9) MOUSTACHE {CAT'S HOME* around Ugly}

11 Expand novel about capturing maiden's heart (5) WIDEN {NEW< capturing maIDen}

12 A friend initially moves ASAP possibly (7) ACRONYM {A}{CRONY}{Moves}

13 Ordinary vehicle with poor acceleration (7) VANILLA {VAN}{ILL}{A}

14 Say, perfect partners splitting the fee regularly (5) TENSE {ThE fEe around NS}

15 Part of group accepting Republican (8) FRACTION {F{R}ACTION}

18 Stall near house finally sheltering animal (8) HEDGEHOG {HEDGE}{HO}{shelterinG}

20 Most online claims rejected: "Incorrect" (3,2) NOT SO {T<}

23 Principal setter's collection of documents (7) ARCHIVE {ARCH}{I'VE}

25 Americans in civil war //are those getting pulled? (7) YANKEES {D&CD}

26 Adds digits without mistake essentially (5) TOTES {TOES around misTake}

27 King inviting head of excavators near a pit to have another look (2-7) RE-EXAMINE {RE{Excavators}X}{A}{MINE}

28 Oscar led child away, leaving cold, walled city in India (3,5) OLD DELHI {O}{LED cHILD}*

29 Customs in America taking a very long time (6) USAGES {US}{AGES}

DOWN

1 Vagrant man in tears, getting leftovers (8) REMNANTS {MAN* in RENTS} 

2 Different route connecting North and South of Rajasthan - it's free of charge (7) NEUTRON {N{ROUTE*}rajasthaN}

3 Printer to remove contents of book in comic genre (9) GUTENBERG {GUT}{ B in GENRE*}

5 Very gentle woman losing ring, made a courtroom drama (6,5,3) TWELVE ANGRY MEN {VERY GENTLE WoMAN}* I first saw the Hindi version,"Ëk Ruka Hua Faisla"

6 Horse circling white tree (5) ROWAN {RO{W}AN}

7 Spanish gentleman concealed devious goal (7) HIDALGO {HID}{GOAL*}

8 Breakfast dish with bad smell, extremely awful (6) PONGAL {PONG}{AwfuL}

9 Horrible people face home truths unhappily (4,2,3,5) SCUM OF THE EARTH*

16 Engineer says "Brief Note: no unknown, new tools" (5,4) T?N?N ?A?S TENNON SAWS {{SAyS}{NOTe}{NEW}}* See Comments

17 Lady with family members heading off for seafood (8) LOBSTERS {L}{mOBSTERS}

19 Up brewing iced tea, mostly around 10 (7) EXCITED {{X} in {ICED TEa*}

21 Spooner's conference is packed with people (7) TEEMING {Spoonerism of MEETING}

22 Hide impression? (6) TATTOO {CD}

24 Paper missing the the first edition (5) ISSUE {tISSUE} See comments

REFERENCE LIST

Energy=E, Acceleration=A, PARTNERS(in Bridge)=N(orth)and S(outh), Republican=R, House=HO, King=Rex, Oscar=O, America=US, North=N, Book=B, Ring=O, White=W, Ten=X.