No 13253, Friday 21 May 2021, Anon

Lockdown day 23 of 26 Stay Safe

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

All those who are not regular commenters but who are rookie commenters or silent followers of the blog are requested to post answers with annotations in the comments section. In your own interest please avoid looking up the answers from the interactive version. Don't hesitate to post your annotations, in case you make a mistake in the annotation someone will correct it with the right annotation.

PLEASE NOTE, SOLUTIONS WITHOUT ATTEMPTING THE ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED

Each commenter is requested to post only 5 answers thereby giving others also a chance to participate. Please provide all your answers in one comment.

Regular solvers/Veterans can post 1 answer each, but after 11 AM only

The regular blog will replace the clues at 4 PM.

Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS

1   Can activity disrupt European city state? (7,4) VATICAN CITY*

9   Trojan leader has currency difficulty (7) TROUBLE {Tr...n}{ROUBLE}

10 Regular orbit of European returning from adversaries (6) RIVALS {oRbIt}{SLAV<=}

11 Problem child (5) ISSUE [DD]

12 Odd farm trick gone out of control (7) FRANTIC {FaRm}{ANTIC}

15 Catch your breath at first glance of snake (4) GASP {Gl...e}{ASP}

16 Cleanliness advocates doctor insight? Yes! (10) HYGIENISTS*

18 Irritate, prod geisha with emojis, say (10) IDEOGRAPHS*

20 Bond, for one, traps Sri Lankan in European capital (4) OSLO {0{SL}0}

23 Main cyclist group, confused, almost elope, not returning (7) PELOTON {ELOPe*}{NOT<=}

24 Sage found in Paris, hibernating (5) RISHI [T]

26 At first, Xerxes and Nero arduously duel until idealised place (6) XANADU Acrostic

27 Delight of beheaded kinsman (7) ELATION rELATION

28 Man wets oats, cooks for female political leader (11) STATESWOMAN*

DOWN

2   Saunters safely home, starts off from chaos (6) AMBLES shAMBLES

3   Plan for assistant from top to bottom (4) IDEA (-a)IDE(+a)A

4   Carry by aircraft, destroy hi-fi grater (3,7) AIR FREIGHT*

5   At bay, new worker has engagement (8) COVENANT {COVE}{N}{ANT}

6   Comic, skeptical, to remove Personal Computer from movies (7) TALKIES SKEpTIcAL*

7   Suspend relationship over fashion accessory? (6,3) STRING TIE {TIE}<=>{STRING}

8   Leading sailor slips into vessels, brags (6) BOASTS {BOA{Sa...r}TS}

13 Young sages revolting at places of worship (10) SYNAGOGUES*

14 Sensation created by Europeans (9) ESTONIANS*

17 The unread, after gin cocktail, love to yell (8) IGNORANT {GIN*}{O}{RANT}

19 Fashionable, initially expensive, brace for worker (7) ELEGANT {Ex...e}{LEG}{ANT}

21 Sister’s relatives have songbird (6) SISKIN {SIS}{KIN}

22 Equip with programming language, fleet of warships (6) ARMADA {ARM}{ADA}

25 Written message to recall missing rays? Odd! (4) MEMO MEMOry

Reference List

New = N, Personal computer = PC, Programming language = ADA

No 13252, Thursday 20 May 2021, Lightning

Lockdown Day 22 of 26 Stay Safe

Solution to 24D 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.

ACROSS

1   Biased aspirant at fault (8) PARTISAN*

5   I am returning to gobble top third of snack with drink (6) MIMOSA {I'M<=}{saMOSA}

9   Mockery aside, left to go to dirty place (8) TRAVESTY {TRAVEl}{STY}

10 Road prop two engineers replaced for all to see (6) STREET STR(-u+ee)EET

12 The Spanish doctor moving ahead — very bright one (5) RIGEL {EL}<=>{RIG}

13 Move rector with his persuasive speeches (9) RHETORICS {RECTOR+HIS}*

14 Light source oddly placed on stairs with oxygen, perhaps? (6) SARGAS {StAiRs}{GAS}

16 In a separate place like below (7) ASUNDER {AS}{UNDER}

19 Wear pants again to compensate? (7) REDRESS {RE-DRESS}

21 Compel guard leaving Vatican City church (6) COERCE {COvER}{CE}

23 Let loose panther on monument in Greece (9) PARTHENON {PANTHER}*{ON}

25 One learning it could dilate (5) PUPIL [DD}

26 It illuminates honorable man joining institute in America (6) SIRIUS {SIR}{I}{US}

27 Rebellion in state growing (8) UPRISING {UP}{RISING}

28 Mislead the Spanish chap to go around (6) DELUDE {D{EL}UDE}

29 Are gents revolting to separate? (8) ESTRANGE*

DOWN

1   Apostle (saint) dwindles away (6) PETERS {PETER}{S}

2   This action could result in a draw (9) REARGUARD [CD]

3   One agreement is perfect (5) IDEAL {1}{DEAL}

4   Can’t a research showcase a star? (7) ANTARES [T]

6   Announce new reduction (9) INTRODUCE*

7   Segment of globe lifted with daggers (5) OBELI [T]

8   Music perhaps — one’s attempt with skill and imagination (8) ARTISTRY {ART}{1'S}{TRY}

11 It shines in American city for the most part (4) VEGA VEGAs

15 Ground  dry enough for racer (9) GREYHOUND*

17 Last month, on extended play, one disrupting century with guile (9) DECEPTION {DEC}{EP}{T{1}ON}

18 Suggested to poke around cause (8) PROPOSED {PRO{POSE}D}

20 Croon without fluctuation (4) SING [CD] (Addendum - {SwING} - See comments)

21 Dismiss artistic work on celestial body (7) CANOPUS {CAN}{OPUS}

22 At first patient leaves with fit of shivering — it could be deadly (6) PLAGUE {Pa...t}{Le...s}{AGUE}

24 Right — please exit more than one countryside (5) R?R?L (Addendum - RURAL {R}{plURAL} - See comments)

25 Former chief of community (5) PRIOR [DD]

Reference List

Engineer = E, For all to see = U, The in Spanish = EL, Vatican city = V, Church = CE, Institute = I, State = UP, Saint = S, Extended play = EP, With = W, Please = PL