Saturday, 4 April 2026

No 14759, Saturday 04 Apr 2026, Afterdark

 ACROSS
1 Leaking doctor's intellectual property disheartened personally (6) DRIPPY {DR}{IP}{PersonallY}
4 Quarterfinals always leads to a medical condition (1,5) Q FEVER {QF}{EVER}
9 Heads from Gulf Union fear foreign baloney (4) GUFF [Acrostic]
10 Say forest transport's wild bison and buckram essentially (6,4) CARBON SINK {CAR}{BISON*}{aNd}{bucKram} See comments 
11 Miser investing a lot in business (6) CHEAPO {C{HEAP}O}
12 Secret cult loses leader, English Prior's powerless (8) ULTERIOR {cULT}{E}{pRIOR}
13 Type of pistol to ignore; rumoured to lack iron-sight primarily (4-5) SNUB-NOSED {SNUB}{NOiSED}
15 Reform people in a dungeon at first (5) AMEND {A}{MEN}{Dungeon}
16 A soft calcite found in Switzerland and Albania by knight (5) CHALK {CH}{AL}{K}
18 Say, Rajinikanth is fan magnet, appearing in papers every second (5,4) STAGE NAME {MAGNET pApErS}*
22 Slow single male worker passes assignments essentially (8) STAGNANT {STAG}{assigNments}{ANT}
23 Duckett legally blocked a container (6) KETTLE [T]
25 Something preceding it may concern (10) WHOMSOEVER [CD]
26 Persuade to live at the outskirts of Nadiad (4) BEND {BE}{NadiaD}
27 Would he be testing for poison taking egg out of kitchen equipment (6) TASTER {ToASTER}
28 Fly with El Salvador head (6) ESCAPE {ES}{CAPE}

DOWN
1 French heir unpaid in revolution, cross heart (7) DAUPHIN {UNPAID}* over {H}
2 Train Frank to hide below (5) INFRA [T]
3 Pass to enter good company with instrument (7) PICCOLO {PI}{C{COL}O}
5 Hostile France meets East Germany on the fourth of July (6) FROSTY {FR}{OST}{julY}
6 My servant becomes a church official (9) VESTRYMAN
7 One day in conflict and confrontation ultimately leads to poor health (3-4) RUN DOWN {R{UN D}OW}{confrontatioN}
8 Belligerent martinet with vague manoeuvres (13) ARGUMENTATIVE*
14 Tennis, Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Soccer, etc (4,5) BALL GAMES [Easy]
17 Warm, square, intense and highly successful (7) HOT SHOT {HOT}{S}{HOT}
19 Games for American children with fine arts after final briefing (2-5) GO KARTS {OK}{ARTS}<=>{briefinG}
20 Collection at Indian festival no good, cheap essentially (7) MELANGE {MELA}{NG}{chEap}
21 Mislead auditor by removing core of unit (6) CAJOLE {CA}{JOuLE}
24 A little setback, one crack in the middle bone (5) TIBIA {A {I}BIT}<

REFERENCE LIST
Doctor=Dr., Intellectual Property=IP, Quarterfinals=QF, Business=CO, English=E, Power=P, Switzerland=CH, Albania=Al, Knight=K, Egg=0=O, Heart=H, East German=Ost, One=Un (in French), Day=D, Square=S, No good=NG.

Friday, 3 April 2026

No 14758, Friday 03 Apr 2026, Afterdark

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
8   Travel with graduate (4) PASS [DD]
9   Man in deserted Warangal, procures 1000 creatures, snail perhaps (5) WHELK {W..a{HE}n..L}{K}
10 Done with 6 deliveries (4) OVER [DD]
11 Basically thoughtless mistake leads to panic (6) TERROR {Th...s}{ERROR}
12 Victor, bad adult at New York hides an evil act (8) VILLAINY {V}{ILL}{A}{NY} over {1}
13 Thug in Furness (8) SKINHEAD {SKIN}{HEAD} What is a Furness?
15 American singer's lines on virginity, say (6) CHERRY {CHER}{RY}
17 Counterpartvery short, loses edge chasing old ball (7) OBVERSE {V}{tERSE} <=>{O}{B}
19 Enforcement Directorate seizes currency at engineer's business (7) EPISODE {E{PISO}D}{E} 
22 Offer by them, after one in the same place (6)  IBIDEM {BID}{'EM}<=>{1}
24 Record by new cycle right away (8) NOTATION {N}{rOTATION}
26 Harry then cuts a tree (8) CHESTNUT*
28 Young working class Scot invites trouble, gets arrested (6) NAILED {N{AIL}ED}
30 Say, equipment at hospital gets current provided in opposite direction (2-2) HI-FI {H}{I}{IF<=}
31 Piece of furniture in restoold to maintain (5) STOOL [T]
32 Van Dyke will hide this (4) CHIN [CD/GK]

DOWN
1   Nominate some from enamellers (4) NAME [HIPS]
2   Mix reagents and separate (8) ESTRANGE*
3   Answer verbally, not entirely with twist (6) SWERVE [T]
4   Building revamped spending millions as charge (7) PERVADE {REVAmPED}*
5   CSK pulls batter to provide safety gear (8) SKULLCAPExtra S and an A short in the fodder
6   Say, Britisher Wade eliminates diwan essentially for a hairstyling cream (6) POMADE {POM}{wADE} 
7   Withdraw from network consuming time ultimately (4) WEAN {W{timE}AN}
14 Dish available in MuridkeBabylonia (5) KEBAB [T]
16 Heads off to Erode to participate in a contest (5) RODEO {eRODE}{tO}
18 Say, the Zealot is primarily enamoured by Polish (8) SIMONISE {SIMON}{IS}{En...d}
20 In peacetimes, morning is spent preparing for carefully planned military operation (3,5) SET PIECE PEaCETImES*
21 Female leaves party to get a balm (7) UNCTION fUNCTION
23 It's somehow used in Duke Institute leading laboratory for getting extract (6) DISTIL {D}{ITS*}{I}{La...y}
25 Can heartless gal empathise at the beginning giving gooseflesh (6) TINGLE {TIN}{GaL}{Em...e}
27 Mop hall first and ventilate (4) HAIR {Hall}{AIR}
29 Say, Mahabharata is a constant in Eastern colleges (4) EPIC {E}{PI}{C}

Reference List
1000 = K, Victor = V, Lines = RY, Very = V, Old = O, Ball = B, Engineer = E, New = N, Right = R, Hospital = H, Current = I, Millions = M, Morning = AM, Female = F, Duke = D, Institute = I, Constant = PI, Eastern = E, Colleges = C