No 14836, Friday 03 Jul 2026, Crossant

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS FOR FRIDAY 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.

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

ACROSS

1   Weak Queen refused to fast after start of summer (6) SICKLY {quICKLY}<=>{Su...r}

4   Warning boy to leave nasty, immoral habit (6) ADVICE {bAD}{VICE}

8   Mounting covert police operation to nab foreigner (7) SETTING {S{ET}TING}

9   Delighted when entering sanctuary in outskirts of Palakkad (7) PLEASED {LE{AS}E} in {Pa...aD}

11 Nicely go around flashing a new Tesla (10) PLEASANTLY {PL{A+N+TESLA}*Y}

12 Bird starting late gets worm? (4) INCH fINCH

13 Further education lags in that respect (5) THERE [T]

14 U.S. never bothered about India and the world (8) UNIVERSE {US+NEVER}* over {I}

16 Maybe Vasco da Gama from Portugal learning routes in the beginning (8) EXPLORER {EX}{P}{LORE}{Ro...s}

18 Military vehicles and tense, faceless rows of soldiers (5) TANKS {T}{rANKS}

20 Follow hooligan cycling around entrance of estate (4) OBEY {(-y)OB(+y)Y} over {Es...e}

21 In fact, session at home is fixed (10) DETERMINED {DE{TERM}{IN}ED}

23 Boy working hard without accomplishment ultimately gets extremely angry (7) BOILING {B}{tOILING}

24 What bowlers do when de Villiers bats - won't have slip mostly (7) DELIVER {DE+VillLIERs}*

25 Makes pens out of unhealthy styrene primarily (6) STYLES STYLusES

26 About to exit central building, understood? (6) LEARNT cENTRAL*

DOWN

1   Is finally all right? Great. (5) SWELL {iS}{WELL}

2   Bit of cream soup (no piece of potato) and cheese maybe (7) COTTAGE {Cr..m}{pOTTAGE}

3   Listen, leaders of national eminence lost and are angry (4,2,3) LEND AN EAR {Na...l+Em...e+Lost+AND+ARE}*

5   Lloyd botched an easy catch (5) DOLLY*

6   Judge one with a drink in Middle East (7) IMAGINE {1}{M{A}{GIN}E}

7   Implements tariffs restricting export revenues in the beginning (9) EXERCISES {EX{Ex...t}{Re...s}CISES}

10 Say most regressive, senseless last words perhaps (2,2,5) ET TU BRUTE {UTTEr<=}{BRUTE}

13 Revolutionary took best, essentially Marxist reading material (9) TEXTBOOKS* {TOOK+BEST+marXist}*

15 Check and re-enter if wrong (9) INTERFERE*

17 King and Queen maybe switching sides and allegiance (7) LOYALTY (-r+l)LOYALTY

19 More curious about India becoming rowdier (7) NOISIER {NO{I}SIER}

21 Slow person needs backing from time to time (5) DENSE {pErSoN+nEeDs}<=

22 Equalise at the end of tight game (5) EVENT {EVEN}{t..hT}

Reference List

Queen = QU, Boy = B, Foreigner = ET, New = N, India = I, Portugal = P, Tense = T, About = C, Sides = R,L

No 14835, Thursday 02 Jul 2026, Mythical

Solution to 7A 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

6   Our closest living relative, Victor, takes me as subject for article (5) CHIMP  CH(-a+i)IMP

7   Head off to exit beyond for journey (8) P?O?R?S?  (Addendum - PROGRESS {eGRESS}<=>{PRO} - See comments) 

10 Preview mobile home (7) TRAILER [DD]

11 Son, say, reportedly intended to separate (7) SEGMENT {S}{EG}{(~meant)MENT}

12 Occasionally he opted for extremely gross food (3,4) HOT DOGS {He+OpTeD+fOr}{GrosS}

13 He leaves penthouse angry but determined (3,4) SET UPON PENThOUSe*

14 Convict consumed ecstasy, with judge as accomplice (11) CONFEDERATE {CON}{FED}{E}{RATE} 

19 What a labour union might initiate - take up arms ? (4,3) WAGE WAR [DD]

21 Eastern representative involved in trial creates a violent uproar (7) TEMPEST {T{E}{MP}EST}

23 Nationalist hidden in shed after mother initially notices intensive search by police (7) MANHUNT {HU{N}T}<=>{MA}{No...s}

25 After retirement, mostly withdraw - bored by husband, right? (7) CHARTER {RETRACt<=} over {H}

26 A young bachelor drawn in by schemes for pleasure seekers (8) PLAYBOYS {PL{A}{Y}{B}OYS}

27 Birds seen in castles (5) ROOKS [DD]

DOWN

1   Huge mob circling around one model in Cannes at first (8) GIGANTIC {(+g)G{I}GAN(-g)}{T}{In}{Ca...s}

2   Say, people look frequently for God (6) APOLLO {sAy+PeOpLe+LoOk}

3   Pole left to testify in sweatpants possibly (10) SPORTSWEAR {S}{PORT}{SWEAR}

4   Difficulty going up heights... (4) TOPS <=

5   ...Unconscious? Doctor, please! (6) ASLEEP* 

6   New Yacht club's popular (6) CATCHY {YACHT+C}*

8   Tense volunteers supporting royal after missing the last sailing event (7) REGATTA {T}{TA}<=>{REGAl}

9   Hurt? Essential to trust in God (5) STING [T]

13 Picks items abroad with distrust (10) SKEPTICISM* 

15 Ruby somewhere in Berkshire ? (7) NEWBURY {RUBY}* [RA]

16 Boisterous celebration after missing another bar appointment (8) ELECTION CELEbraTION*

17 Later, quietly moved through water in flood (5) SWAMP {P}<=>{SWAM}

18 Reserves plots after disposing of investments at first (6) STORES STORiES

20 Urgent letter about tender (6) GENTLE [T]

22 Poor Mike - earnest, we hear (6) MEAGRE {M}{(~eager)EAGRE}

24 Primarily, tired runners often try to move at a steady pace (4) TROT Acrostic

Reference List

Son = S, Ecstasy = E, What = W, Eastern = e, Representative = MP, Nationalist = N, Husband = H, Young =  y, Bachelor = B, Model = T, Pole = S, Club = C, Tense = T, Volunteers = TA(Territorial Army), Quietly = P, Mike = M