No 14776, Friday 24 Apr 2026, Vidwan

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   Firm controlled trade union with bit of engineered isolation (8) SOLITUDE {SOLI{TU}D}{En...d}

5   Earliest of researches in study of Cancer, say (6) TROPIC {T{Re...s}OPIC}

10 Pashto lord taking fellow to India, occasionally (7) AFGHANI {A{F}GHA}{iNdIa}

11 Love piece of crossword clue about German block (7) OCCLUDE {O}{Cr...d}{CLU{D}E}

12 Bridge looked misaligned optically (5-4) CROSS-EYED {CROSS}{EYD}

14 Moves towards new listeners (5) NEARS {N}{EARS}

15 Conspires to use crude things like emeralds and quartzes (8,6) PRECIOUS STONES*

17 Quietly avoiding entrance to places without right arrangements (14) ORCHESTRATIONS {pORCH}{E}{ST{R}ATIONS}E from?

21 Non-specific start of viral fever (5) VAGUE {Vi..l}{AGUE}

22 One who can understand dialogues in a muted movie, split head for Spooner (3,6) LIP READER (rip leader to lip reader)

23 Atmosphere is bad! It's malice! (7) CLIMATE* {iT+MALICE}* {CLIMATE+IS}=ITS MALICE}* [CA]

24 Resistance to change gets noted, possibly for one resting at tide (7) INERTIA {INERTIA+GETS+NOTED}*= {ONE RESTING AT TIDE} [CA]

26 Set him free of belief in one almighty (6) THEISM*

27 Small and remote, on English shore, perhaps (3-5)  ONE-HORSE {ON}{E}{SHORE*}

DOWN

1   Small freedom, having a view of coast! (8) SEASCAPE {S}{E{A}SCAPE}

2   Quietly going close, screening with perfect hearing organ (7) LUGHOLE {pLUG}{wHOLE}

3   It can be green or greenish-blue colour mostly! (3) TEA TEAl

4   Duty-free loo Sir! Possibly for one who advocates making things oneself! (2-2-10) DO-IT-YOURSELFER*

6   Field survey about hoax explosive gathers nothing (11) RECONNOITRE {RE}{CON}{N{O}ITRE}

7   Pick and soften down (7) PLUMAGE {PLUM}{AGE}

8   One from China trading in English dairy product (6) CHEESE {CH(-in+e)EESE}

9   Account of biblical prophet's duties and responsibilities at workplace (3,11) JOB DESCRIPTION  [C&DD]

13 Quiet around his king, child comes back with small starters (5,6) SHISH KEBABS {S{HIS}H}{K}{BABE<=}{S}

16 American queen with awfully mean online self-identification (8) USERNAME {US}{ER}{MEAN*}

18 Great! I'm playing Jazz! (7) RAGTIME*

19 Some cold, sterile, retired fellow (7) OLDSTER [T]

20 Bird with a disheartened voice starting to trill (6) AVOCET {A}{VOiCE}{Tr..l}

25 The flawed crypto-currency (3) ETH*

Reference List

Trade Union = TU, Fellow = F, New = N, English = E, Small = S, Quietly = P, With = W, About = RE, Quiet = SH, King = K, Small = S, Queen = ER

No 14775, Thursday 23 Apr 2026, Vidwan

Solution to 17A 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

8   Essential and wrong! Almost like endless church service at 3 pm! (4,3,3) SINE QUA NON {SIN}{EQUAl}{NONe}

9   Left out flat window glass (4) PANE PANEl (Correction PlANE - See comment)

10 Once more straighten out in opposition to one's character (7,3,5) AGAINST THE GRAIN {AGAIN}{STRAIGHTEN*}

11 Measure of certain lie repeated to an old rock group overshadowed by younger ones! (6) INLIER [T]

12 Tells United Nations head about Indian mantra (8) UNBOSOMS {UN}{BOS{OM}S}

14 Heartless brothel keeper gets lady's address (4) MAAM MAdAM

15 Assimilator took nourishment at home, possibly for materialisations (3,2) ATE IN {ATE IN+ASSIMILATOR}*=MATERIALISATIONS [CA]

16 Born dead desire (4) NEED {NEE}{D}

17 Lecherous discreet royal, one coming in for date (8) ?R?R?E?T (Addendum - PRURIENT PRU(-d+r1}RIENT - See comments)

18 Runs ahead for taste! King runs for fun! (6) FROLIC {F(+r)RO(-r)}{LICk}

19 Admirable! Urgent rush to find a mysterious place! (7,8) BERMUDA TRIANGLE*

21 Here investigator has control (4) REIN [T]

22 Do rise and vibe excitedly with rich variety of life! (10) BIODIVERSE*

DOWN

1   Receiving a riper kind of flowering ivy (8,7) VIRGINIA CREEPER*

2   Minister lured me, treated for alcoholism induced psychosis (8,7) DELIRIUM TREMENS*

3   Underground bus tips over to ride on sea! Great! (10) SUBSURFACE {BUS<=}{SURF}{ACE}

4   Popular place hosting most honest chaps making piece of orchestral music (15) INSTRUMENTATION {IN}{S{TRUe}{MEN}TATION}

5   Occasionally king eyes a part of leg (4) KNEE {KiNg+EyEs}

6   No! No current pass arranged for someone like Harsha Bhogle (6,9) SPORTS ANNOUNCER*

7   Destroying Persian militia, saving millions for policy of opposition to dominance over other nations (4-11)  ANTI-IMPERIALISM {PERSIAN+MILITIA}* over {M}

13 Boycott office detective trading cocaine tart (7,3) BANOFFI PIE {BAN}{OFFI(-c+pi)PIE}

20 Theodore returned after acquiring book liability (4) DEBT {T{B}ED<=}

Reference List

Left = L, Indian mantra = OM, Born = NEE, Royal = R, Date = D, Dead = D, Runs = R, King = K, Popular = IN, Millions = M, Cocaine = C, Detective = PI(Private Investigator), Book = B