No 14430, Wednesday 12 Mar 2025, Arden

Solution to 19A 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   Bottle of cognac to start with - how old are we? (7) COURAGE {Co...c}{OUR AGE}

5   Clubs it in true performance (7) RECITAL {RE{C}{IT}AL}

9   Stretch limo, say, gets the top prize (5) OSCAR {OS}{CAR}

10 Show time spent in part of the ship (9) PAGEANTRY {P{AGE}ANTRY}

11 Agreed to procure hybrid crops to prepare Scotch pancake (4,5) DROP SCONE {D{CROPS*}ONE}

12 She lets foreign lad to get in (5) LINDA {L{IN}DA*}

13 Hard-hearted policeman gets a cut (4) CHOP {C{H}OP}

15 A feeling of dread over limited capital (8) ANGSTROM {ANGST}{ROMe}

18 One who follows an impression about her (8) ADHERENT {A}{D{HER}ENT}

19 Point lay behind the junction (4) N?D? {Addendum - NODE {N}{ODE} - See comments)

22 Massachusetts began partly as a revolutionary state (5) ASSAM {MASa...s}{AS}{A}<= (Correction [T<=] - See comments)

24 Europeans from the best school in the UK - that includes a Pole (9) ESTONIANS {E{S}TONIANS}

26 Movement for equality - place of origin covers original lines (6,3) WOMENS LIB{WOM{LINES*}B}

27 Cigarette tin not allowed (5) SNOUT {SN}{OUT}

28 Stamp on a contract - makes it water-tight (7) SEALANT {SEAL}{A}{NT}

29 Record and list out final price in the letter (7) EPISTLE {EP}{LIST*}{p..cE}

DOWN

1   Porridge with jam, ready finally (6) CROWDY {CROWD}{r..dY}

2   Hector - couldn't he be in the altogether? (9) UNCLOTHED*

3   Ones acquiring essentially large areas of land (5) ACRES {AC{laRge}ES}

4   Bugging? Finally, the pain goes away (9) ESPIONAGE {thE+PAIN+GOES}*

5   Special guest room, most go for something cosmetic (5) ROUGE {GUEst+ROom}*

6   Daily carrying regular load, train to become a crook (9) CHARLATAN {CHAR}{LoAd}{TrAiN}

7   Some spot it anyway in Atlas, perhaps (5) TITAN [T]

8   A manly version of an amateur (6) LAYMAN*

14 Use emulsion paint - perhaps list out complaints of lung infection (9) PNEUMONIA {EMUlsiON+PAINt}*

16 Usual requests to a head waiter - can be easily reached (9) GETATABLE {GET A TABLE} New word for me

17 Abnormal amount - maybe he doesn't fit in (3,3,3) ODD MAN OUT {ODD}{AMOUNT}* 

20 Trade fast, way Yankee goes for sanctions (6) FATWAS {FAST+WAy}*

21 Fly to places within Tennessee borders (6) TSETSE {Te...{SETS}...sE}

23 Music almost identical with regular beat (5) SAMBA {SAMe}{BeAt]

24 Flourish amidst all the clatter (5) ECLAT [T]

25 Second generation Japanese immigrant going north? That is wrong (5) NISEI {IE}{SIN}<=

Reference List

Clubs = C, Stretch = OS, Hard = H, Pole = S, Contract = NT(No Trumps in Bridge game), Record = EP(Extended play), Daily = CHAR, Yankee = Y