No 14848, Friday 17 Jul 2026, Afterdark

Artwork by Prasanna

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS FOR FRIDAY ONLY

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PLEASE NOTE, SOLUTIONS WITHOUT ATTEMPTING THE ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED

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ACROSS

1   Say, Lily's working to acquire new apparatus to disperse crowds (5,6) WATER CANNON {WATER CAN}{ON} over {N}

7   Trap bachelor with girl (3) BAG {BA}{G}

9   Setback after Republican's order had repetitions (5) ROTES {SET<=}<=>{R}{O}

10 Careless guru dead, ingesting some nightshade carelessly (9) UNGUARDED {GURU+DEAD}* over {Ni...e}

11 Brigadier designs a delivery mechanism (3,6) AIR BRIDGE*

12 Tremulous sound from other end of boat on stream (5) TRILL {boaT}{RILL}

13 Viscous black liquid layer over lake at Ajmer outskirts (4,3) COAL TAR {COA{L}T}{AjmeR}

15 Course beginners in Tamil indicate difficulty & ennui (4) TIDE Acrostic

18 Victim, a mother saved by a religious leader (4) IMAM [T]

20 Short lady initially cried on everyone's hate (7) MISCALL {MISs}{Cr..d}{ALL}

23 Central forecast on regulation (5) EDICT prEDICTed

24 Amanda, Laila, Matilda contributing to someone like 18 (5,4) DALAI LAMA [T]

26 Cooked ribs, had half of port in a vessel (9) SHIPBOARD {RIBS+HAD+POrt}*

27 Falls for medico at work, over heels ultimately (5) DROPS {DR}{OP}{h..lS}

28 Carpet is 50% bumpy (3) RUG RUGged

29 One who repeats and reinforces opinions of coach Herb and me in a bad way (4,7) ECHO CHAMBER {COACH{HERB+ME}*

DOWN

1   Victory celebration at area and shortly at both sides of college (3,5) WAR DANCE {WARD}{ANd}{Co...gE}

2   Coaching for test covers university model only (8) TUTORIAL {T{U}{T}{O}RIAL}

3   A vertical pipe at the floor corner is interred in the middle (5) RISER {f..oR}{IS}{intERred}

4   When in Paris, one doctor inserted tip of needle in parts (7) ASUNDER {AS}{UN}{D{n...lE}R}

5   Overlook end of the session, say 7-part lecture ending after 4th (7) NEGLECT {s...oN}{EG}{LECTure}

6   Wave patterns occurring twice a month, when sea in depth almost gets choppy (4,5) NEAP TIDES {SEA+IN+DEPTh}*

7   Friend's girl lied; clipped the wings of a bird (6) BUDGIE {BUD}{G}{lIEd}

8   Nuisance of a lady, fricking heartless badger... (6) GADFLY {LADY+Fr...nG}*

14 ...I met in board programme (9) TIMETABLE {T{I}{MET}ABLE}

16 Auditor and doctor buy a snack underground, perhaps (8) CATACOMB {CA}{TACO}{MB}

17 Charlie prefers regularly procuring Pears soap, say (8) CLEANSER {C}{LEANS}{pEaRs}

19 Say, a holistic therapy's dumb, that nearly is silly (3,4) MUD BATH {DUMB+THAt}*

20 Setter's icon making a comeback primarily composing for a musical (7) MELODIC {ME}{IDOL<=}{Co...g}

21 Incense container at church at all directions but one on the right (6) CENSER {CE}{NSEw}{R}

22 Whacking in disguise (6) HIDING [DD]

25 One's leaving a country to another (5) INDIA INDonesIA

Reference List

New = N, Bachelor = BA, Girl = G, Republican = R, Order = O, Lake = L, Work = OP, University = U, Model = T, Only = O, One in Paris = UN, Charlie = C, Church = CE, Right = R

No 14847, Thursday 16 Jul 2026, Afterdark

Solution to 28A 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

9   Greed? It is not seen in female pilot (7) AVARICE AViAtRICE

10 For the most part, Tata Ace transports vitamin and salt (7) ACETATE {TATa+ACE}*{E}

11 Famous specialist follows eastern time (7) EMINENT {ENT}<=>{E}{MIN}

12 Copper nabs snitch with soldier's attendant (7) CURATOR {CU}{RAT}{OR}

13 Agrees, but vacillates getting vegetable (5,4) SUGAR BEET*

15 Drive to Marrakesh over partly (5) SHOVE [T]

16 Special wine (cold) altered muscle tone (7) SPASTIC {SP}{ASTI}{C}

19 By deceit, cash given to sister's used to frame (7) CHASSIS {CASH*}{SIS}

20 Gain a male animal (5) AMASS {A}{M}{ASS}

21 Gladiator's role in South Africa's discussed centrally (9) SPARTACUS {S{PART}A}{disCUSsed}

25 Explosive to primarily ruin someone like Epstein (7) TORPEDO {TO}{Ruin}{PEDO}

26 At the start, sudden noise baffled son entering a meeting (7) SESSION {Su...n}with {NOISE}*over {S}

28 Nurse corresponding with leading endocrinologist to join (7) E?T?I?E (Addendum - ENTWINE {EN}{TWIN}{En...t} - See comments)

29 Son's team centre joins another team at beach (7) SEASIDE {S}{tEAm}{SIDE}

DOWN

1   Touch actress badly to lose front tooth (6) CARESS ACtRESS*

2   Goods arriving without name (6) LADING LAnDING

3   Limits excess centrally from rodents (4) MICE {liMIts}{exCEss}

4   Spy's article creates rage (6) SEETHE {SEE}{THE}

5   Unruly trio can, at the border, clandestinely get controlled substance (8) NARCOTIC {TRIO+CAN}*{Cl...y}

6   Downer from French media worker (10) DEPRESSANT {DE}{PRESS}{ANT}

7   Careful about one in car, say at America (8) CAUTIOUS {C}{AUT{1}O}{US}

8   Its unique; spy replaces man with lady in difficulty (8) PEERLESS {PEER}{(-m+l)LESS}

14 Cooking device for breads used by South American (10) ROTISSERIE {ROTIS}{S}{ERIE}

16 I ate an egg of a marine creature (3,5) SEA OTTER {SE{A}{O}TTER}

17 Enthusiasm offers one clarity somehow (8) ALACRITY {1+CLARITY}*

18 Client of Atticus, Tom, Eric protected (8) CUSTOMER [T]

22 Leading an animal to the front provides benefit (6) ASSIST {1ST}<=>{ASS}

23 Judge's important to evict gangster (6) CRITIC CRITICal

24 Say, diva spotted in a bus in Germany (6) SINGER [T]

27 Collect sample of son and wife to get blood group (4) SWAB {S}{W}{AB}

Reference List

Vitamin = E, Specialist = ENT, Eastern = E, Snitch = RAT, Soldier = OR, Special =SP, Cold = C, Male = M, Son = S, Nurse = EN(Enrolled Nurse), Name = N, From in French = DE, About = C, Man = M, Lady = L, South = S, Wife = W, Blood Group = AB