No 14830, Friday 26 Jun 2026, Karaoke

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

1   Leading saint leaves for cold basement (6)

4   He works during strike at beck and call exceptionally? Good, drop case first (8)

9   Discover the truth about doctor breaking law (6)

10 Sovereign force breathes fresh air (8)

12 Nobody gets air in the fiasco (3-5)

13 Supermarkets without essential stock? Get major sales force (6)

15 Burned earth at war? That's a rumour (11)

18 Giving sweetheart to do something dishonest together? (4,2,5)

21 Complains of navigation aid getting weird (6)

22 Sweeper hugs everyone in the dancing hall (8)

24 Bad dolls sorted out in basket cases (8)

25 Take a break Johnson! Make a short visit (4,2)

26 Saddened about the situations offering no progress (4-4)

27 Pursues vigorously without eccentricity and holds power unjustly (6)

DOWN

1   It is very hard to solve conundrum without essential hints (8)

2   Money shortly exchanged in shady deal for something juicy (8)

3   Help a voter primarily with electoral process in a state of disorder (3,4,3,5)

5   Branch is in a state of neglect without chief officer (4)

6   Primarily Lower House got the case law modified to free someone from hanging (5,3,7)

7   Worker interchanges tabletop with laptop in lounge! (6)

8   Girl over-used overshoe? (6)

11 It definitely disturbs others when smartphone primarily kept on silent mode (7)

14 Bowler perhaps covers a part in home ground (7)

16 Associate from Moscow or Kerala (2-6)

17 Better half is without end (8)

19 Leaders rejected salary freeze that existed for a long time (3-3)

20 Headless insensitive person goes back, it's plain (6)

23 It cuts short a sample of promotional book (6) 

No 14829, Thursday 25 Jun 2026, Gussalufz

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.

NICE PAIN

ACROSS

1   Workers laid off? Tad fishy (3,5) DAY SHIFT*

6   Ignore outrageous abyss next to eastern edge of camp (4,2) PASS BY {ABYSS}*<=>{camP}

9   The two of us texted for dinner options? (4) MENU (~ ME 'N U}

10 Bali trek is tailor-made for rugged two-wheelers (5,5) TRAIL BIKES*

11 Straight storyteller capturing fringes of lesbian lore (6) LINEAR {LI{l...aN}{lorE}AR}

12 Detective probing American dude's murder (8) HOMICIDE {HOMI{CID}E}

13 Om: "I bit mice, dubiously imitating nature" (10) BIOMIMETIC*

15 Gussalufz accompanying gangster for lunch? (4) MEAL {ME}{AL}

17 Unchanged support after leader's ouster (2,2) AS IS bASIS

18 Son, sleep long on ship, for energy (10) SNAPPINESS {S}{NAP}{PINE}{SS}

20 Antelope ecosystem buckled after all-round grazing (8) STEMBUCK [T] Couldn't find this spelling anywhere

22 Spicy stew leads to rectal agony (painful inflammation) (6) RAGOUT {Re...l}{Ag..y}{GOUT}

24 Young abstainers, taking off clothes, give up and loudly dance on ecstasy (4,2,4) BAND OF HOPE {aBANDOn}{F}{HOP}{E}

26 Head priest dined (4) PATE {Pr...t}{ATE}

27 Party offering to preserve copy (6) CANAPE {CAN}{APE}

28 Grasshoppers returned regularly, used midday attacks (8) KATYDIDS {uSeD+mIdDaY+aTtAcKs}<=

DOWN

2   Rampant tantrum and rage in resort, for starters (9) A?E?I?I?S (Addendum - APERITIFS {S{FIT}{IRE}PA}<= - See comments)

3   A brute, lacking limits in behaviour, goes after small fry (5)  SAUTE {A}{brUTE}<=>{S}

4   Acting in period features (international) (7) INTERIM {IN TER{I}M}

5   Half of trailer cut for interval (3) TEA TEAser

6   European with microphone, offering contentious argument (7) POLEMIC {POLE}{MIC}

7   Train workers to crawl through hairy mews with caution, ultimately (9) SWITCHMEN {ITCH}* in {MEWS*}{c...oN} 

8   Badaam at first, then take paratha? (5) BREAD {Ba...m}{READ}

12 Ah, turning pitch, where some bowlers might be rested (7) HATRACK {AH<=}{TRACK}

14 Indian state in upheaval around healthcare staff cut: news outlets (4,5) MASS MEDIA {ASSAM<=} over {MEDIcs}

16 Like the middle of hamburger slices—seasoned and battered (9) ASSAULTED {AS}{SA{h..bUr..r}LTED}

18 Very upset, not right dish (7) SOUFFLE {SO}{rUFFLE}

19 A fine, extremely encyclopedic Essence of Anatomy textbook (7) PERFECT {PER}{F}{En...iC}{anaTomy}

21 ChatGPT, possibly possessed by craftiness, goes overboard; this might go over one's head (5) TIARA {AR{AI}T}<=

23 Road-racing? A pedestrian crossing sides stared in shock (5) GAPED [T]

25 Steep drop terminal for Christmas tree (3) OAK sOAK

Reference List

Gangster = AL(Capone), Son = S, Ship = SS, Loudly = F, Ecstasy = E, Small = S, Right = R, Fine = F