No 14818, Friday 12 Jun 2026, Afterdark

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

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

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

ACROSS

1   Understanding layers in microphone design without echos essentially (13) COMPREHENSION {HENS} in {MICROPhONE}*

10 A strategy to suppress rule in continent (9) ANTARCTIC {AN}{TA{R}CTIC} The continent is Antarctica! Antarctic is the region

11 Captains of Australia, Rhodesia, England, New Zealand, Afghanistan in the ground (5) ARENA Acrostic

12 Dodge is electric vehicle? Commercial enunciates at the beginning (5) EVADE {EV}{AD}{En...s}

13 Irish band finishes early to welcome associate (9) CORRELATE {CORRs}{ELATE}

14 Start to drink noisily at a distance (3,3) TEE OFF {(~tea)TEE}{OFF}

16 Say, David the English filmmaker is at bank (4) LEAN [DD]

19 Smile at crush almost (4) GRIN GRINd

20 Master's knowledge is beyond the peak of Ultar (6) GENIUS {GEN{I{Ul..r}S} Beyond as c/c indicator?

25 I have little time before and after theatre work that is crucial (9) OPERATIVE {I'VE}<=>{Time}  after {OPERA}

26 Broadcast on good man's step (5) STAIR {AIR}<=>{ST}

27 Next ration will include bonus (5) EXTRA [T]

28 Deport 27 dissenters in the beginning and fifteen regularly (9) EXTRADITE {EXTRA}{Di...s}{fIfTeEn}

29 Say, yellow lorry (car) transporting opium stash (7,6) PRIMARY COLOUR {LORRY+CAR+OPIUM}*

DOWN

2   Old-fashioned girlfriend's behind forbidden drugs primarily (8) OUTDATED {DATE}<=>{OUT} with {Dr..s}

3   Tomato pulp is unadulterated at Spain (5) PUREE {PURE}{E}

4   Draw in second test, Mark avoids duck (6) ENTICE {tEst}{NoTICE}

5   Licence issued to arrest leader of rioting crowd (8) ENCIRCLE {LICENCE}* over {Ri...g}

6   Trisha redrew square in the second half with free program (9) SHAREWARE {triSHA}{redREW}{squARE}

7   Traffic system at the circle's new, absent by end of Sunday (3-3) ONE-WAY {O}{NEW}{A}{s...aY}

8   Complaint on poor book (6) LAMENT {LAME}{NT}

9   In part, prelate reached following (5) LATER [T]

15 Gangster holstering gun, say with safety device (4,5) FIRE ALARM {AL} in {FIREARM}

17 England has a new Eastern European rival starting to manipulate (8) ENGINEER {ENG}{1}{N}{E}{E}{Ri..l}

18 Panchatantiram is under wraps? Sweet (8) TIRAMISU [T]

21 Ship passes over lake on course (6) SERIES {S{ERIE}S}

22 Head Office order extremely empty and rubbish (5) HOOEY {HO}{O}{EmptY}

23 Man caught by heartless officer who is a bully (6) HECTOR {HE}{CT}{Of...eR}

24 Poisoned primarily clueless doubter (6) SEPTIC ScEPTIC

26 Ashley Cole, first and last to be sacked by confused Arsenal in a tangle (5) SNARL aRSeNAL*

Reference List

Rule = R, Commercial = AD, Good man = ST(Saint), Spain = E, Absent = A, Book = NT(New Testament), Gangster = AL(Capone), New = N, Eastern = E, European = E, Ship = SS, Order = O, Caught = CT

No 14817, Thursday 11 Jun 2026, KrisKross

Solution to 12A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered 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

1   Chemist's quick to wrap wound (8) PHARMACY {P{HARM}ACY}

5   Reportedly delivers heavy woollen fabric (6) FRIEZE (~frees)

9 &13 They are used to revive sailors with BO? (8,5) SMELLING SALTS {SALTS}<=>{SMELLING}

10 It can hold breakfast food for one - greasy pot originally lined with copper (6) EGGCUP {EG}{Gr...y}{CU}{Pot}

12 Opponents try drills. Many give up (4,5) L?S? H?A?T (Addendum - LOSE HEART - {LO{S,E{HEAR}T}See comments)

13 See 9A

14 Top trends in poems (4) ODES {mODES}

16 Temple town's function for a zealot (7) PURITAN {PURI}{TAN}

19 Obscure quotations seen in memes regularly (7) ECLIPSE {mE{CLIPS}mEs}

21 Panel changing sides in a month (4) JURY JU(-l+r)RY

24 Country's popular face left out (5) INDIA {IN}{DIAl}

25 Pin ads around a flyer (9) SAND PIPER {PIN+ADS}*{PER}

27 AI software not opening novel - it's an irritating problem (6) IRITIS {sIRI}{ITS*}

28 Primarily many people excited in arena, resulting in this? (8) STAMPEDE {STA{Many}{Pe...e}{Ex...d}DE} Semi&lit

29 One suffering hurt before try-out (6) MARTYR {MAR}{TRY*}

30 Woman is pinched by spoilt kid, most rude (8) BRASHEST   {BRA{SHE'S}T}

DOWN

1   Step dancing with extremely lovable crush (6) PESTLE {STEP*}{Lo...lE}

2   Doctored images revealing bias (6) AGEISM* 

3   Enrich soil greatly, taking in fertilisers essentially (5) MULCH {MU{f...iLi...s}CH}

4   Dismiss very stupid person in campaign (7) CANVASS {CAN}{V}{ASS}

6   Administrator is back, charged with direction to rule (9) REGISTRAR {R{E{GIST}RA<=}{R}Anno not clear (Addendum - {RE{GIST}{R}AR} - See comments)

7   Intensify police case, missing deadline (8) ESCALATE {CASE*}{LATE}

8   Showing ten pigeons flying all around (8) EXPOSING {E{X}POSING*}

11 Break small plaything (4) STOP {S}{TOP}

15 Evil God filled with power, chiefly crazy (9) DEPRAVITY {DE{PR}{crAzy}}ITY} (Correction - {DE{P}{RAVe}ITY} - See comments)

17 Idle vagrant, a bit intoxicated, overwhelmed by strange fever (8) DELIRIUM {IDLE*}{R{In...d}UM}

18 Glue dries for the most part, turning more muddy Glue mostly dries turning more muddy (8) SLUDGIER {GLUe+DRIES}*

20 Some require a strategic direction (4) EAST [T]

21 After a month, bread counter becomes cleaner (7) JANITOR {JAN}{ROTI<=}

22 Ball's area (6) SPHERE [DD]

23 Tune with hint of romance… girl starts crying (6) URGENT {TUNE+Ro...e+G}*

26 American uncle excited about cats (5) PUMAS {SAM}{UP}<=

Reference List

Opponents = S,E(South and East in Bridge card game), Function = TAN, Popular = IN, Very = V, Rule = R, Small = S, American uncle = SAM