No 14860, Friday 31 Jul 2026, Saral

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.

ACROSS

7   Old boy rejecting noisy town (7)

8   Rogue caught after a crash (6)

9   Lifts metals reportedly (6)

10 Piece of object next to parking (8)

11 Threaten private holding papers (10)

13 Round bowl over almonds, say (4)

14 Jack covering strong pale gem (4)

16 Worms and flying bugs circling a bit of rasgulla (5)

18 Dividend from a stock finally (4)

19 Met nationalist hiding in hot place (4)

21 At home I have rotating counter that's necessary (10)

23 Each day doctor leading treatment of flu. Terrible! (8)

25 Requests seafood around lunchtime (6)

26 God! Perhaps vanquisher killing a queen without hesitation (6)

27 At first cutting awfully hard, half of edam cheese (7)

DOWN

1   Pamphlet from party is with direction (8)

2   Suppressing question with anguish sadly (8)

3   Fried potato in college over (4)

4   Intense fire spreading near church (6)

5   Possibility of quietly moving back old drink (6)

6   Carver creating top curls (8)

7   Primarily big and thick original neem stick (5)

12 Last letter covered in gold, again in blue (5)

15 New radio set for space traveller (8)

17 Controls son scratching head of jerks (8)

18 Scheme mainly to get vehicle with extremely dubious advertisements (8)

20 Lack of enthusiasm in a course ending in May (6)

21 Arrival of nine having new disease (6)

22 Primate catching bird in both hands (5)

24 Key partner inside blocks (4)

No 14859, Thursday 30 Jul 2026, Karaoke

Solution to 2D 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

1   Rain around Eastern Colorado's top desert (6) DECAMP D{E}{Co...o}AMP} Rain/Damp?

4   One with highest technical skills developed virus too (8) VIRTUOSO*

9   Russian capital in distress over time (6) ROUBLE tROUBLE

10 Highly poisonous substances concocted in extremely deadly case (8) CYANIDES {IN+De..lY+CASE}*

12 Animal worker at restaurant leaving early finally (8) ANTEATER {ANT}{EATERy}

13 Agree to cheat copper and inspector at last (6) CONCUR {CON}{CU}{i...oR}

15 Touch on cycle, it is forbidden (4) TABU (+t)TABU(-t)

17 Trying to endure mobs in a riot (10) BURDENSOME {BURDENSOME}*

19 Spooner's rodent loathes those who share accommodation (10) HOUSEMATES (~mouse hates to housemates)

20 Brought end of page to the head for insect (4) FLEA (+f)FLEA(-f)

23 50% of seed gets fruit. Cool (6) SEDATE {SEed}{DATE}

24 Wonder drug taken after drink in a bar (8) RUMINATE {E}<=>{RUM}{IN}{A}{T}

27 Somewhere in Australia, a detailed plan missed initial targets (8) ADELAIDE {A}{DEtAILED}*

28 Free service first with your personal credentials (4-2) USER-ID {RID}<=>{USE}

29 Performing sex daily? It impairs your intellectual competence! (8) DYSLEXIA*

30 He was loved by Aphrodite mainly to carry out crime in retreat (6) ADONIS {Ap...e}{DO}{SIN<=}

DOWN

1   Sleeping gatekeeper forgot old coat at the close (7) DORMANT {DOoRMAN}{coaT}

2   Cocaine runs around in the open bar (5) C?U?T ()

3   Think over a chief hermit. He is a scholar in sacred law (6) MULLAH {MULL}{A}{He...t}

5   Primarily it describes your love for poem on pastoral subjects (4) IDYL Acrostic

6   12:50, in all probability? (3,2,3) TEN TO ONE [DD/Rebus]

7   Traditional type of class, not new to teach (3,6) OLD SCHOOL [C&DD]

8   Keep an eye on old boy with premier Scotch bottle with hidden name (7) OBSERVE {OB}{Sc...h}{nERVE}

11 Worldly cryptic clues by a setter in the finale (7) SECULAR {CLUES*}{A}{s...eR}

14 What batsman did before going to bat, dropping cap finally, made sense (5,2) ADDED UP {pADDED UP}

16 Vast group abducted old ship (9) BOUNDLESS  {B{O}UNDLE}{SS}

18 Feel about water shortage desperately in oppressive weather (8) HEATWAVE {HAVE} over {WATEr}*

19 Manager spent hours regularly with orchestra (7) HUSBAND {HoUrS}{BAND}

21 Minister abruptly got upset over plans of action (7) AGENDAS {AGENt}{SAD<=}

22 One-sided? I like to be in a place to sleep (6) BIASED {B}{I}{AS}ED}

25 Old hand in an area on stage before the curtain (5) APRON {A{PRO}N}

26 I'll admit often about some breakfast item (4) IDLI {IlL+aDmIt}<=

Reference List

Eastern = E, Time = T, Drug = E, Bar = T, Old = O, Old boy = OB, Name = N, Ship = SS