No 14710, Friday 06 Feb 2026, Bruno

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   Post-graduate hiding dead girl with sheet (10) PLATEGLASS {P{LATE}G}{LASS}

6   Spice's odour turning estate's core inhabitants out (4) HERB  BREatH<=

9   More fighting - guerrilla finally escapes with family (10) EXTRACTION {EXTRA}{aCTION} Definition seems vague See comments

10 Greek Goddess's loss of heart in earth sadly (4) THEA EArTH*

12 Straps designed with a bend and decorated like a flag (4-8) STAR-SPANGLED {STRAPS}*{ANGLED}

15 Circular displaying head of communist revolutionary (7) RADICAL {RADI{Co...t}AL}

16 Model's bottoms - one concealing nothing is tops! (1-6) T-SHIRTS {T}{SH(-o+1)IRTS}

17 Agricultural product from a very old company displaying a date (7) AVOCADO {A}{V}{O}{C{A}{D}O}

19 Setter's excited being part of attempt to retract ragtag army (7) MILITIA {I}{LIT} in {AIM<=}

20 Assembly embargoed bananas after seeing money stuffed in (5,7) BOARD MEETING {EMBARGOED}* over {TIN}

23 One chosen to convey answer (4) ECHO [T]

24 Dodgy part of city square's last line with worn interior's redesigned (10) TENDERLOIN {T}{END}{LINE+wORn}*} 

25 Sailor left Shanghai channel (4) DUCT abDUCT

26 Teen milling around very loud riot often recklessly robbing contents has cheek (10) EFFRONTERY {TEEN}* over {FF}{RiOt}{Re...lY}

DOWN

1   Spy week? (4) PEEK Anno pending

2   Realtors pitching outskirts... it's low! (4) ALTO reALTOrs

3   Cabins slated to be renovated with stretchy things (7,5) ELASTIC BANDS*

4   After some time, a language becomes creative (7) LATERAL {LATER}{A}{L} L/Language?

5   Game popular in Spain and Utah (4,3) SHOT PUT {HOT} in {S}{UT} This is an athletic event and not a game!

7   Delight of perverted liar consumed by old hostility (10) EXHILARATE {EX}{H{LIAR*}ATE}

8   Drink label has upturned flower (10) BRANDYSNAP {BRAND}{PANSY<=} 

11 Ultimately, running hotel's hard (2,3,4,3) IN THE LONG RUN* Hard as Anind?

13 Old custom - to put hand in mouth and put on black register (5,5) BREAK BREAD {B{R}EAK}{B}{READ} Read/Register? See comments

14 Essential part of testimony - a cop hid it, surprisingly for unknown causes (10) IDIOPATHIC {t..tIm..y+A+COP+HID+IT}*

18 How I would refer to setter's working style, mainly, during leave? Kicking back! (7) ONESELF {ON}{St..e}{FLEe<=}

19 Man waving red flag returning from Belgorod - a Tamilian (7) MATADOR [T<=]

21 Fail to win not so tight ODIs, initially getting out (4) LOSE LOoSE

22 Individual working largely in the peripheries (4) ONLY {ON}{La...lY}

Reference List

Model = T, Very = V, Date = D, Sailor = AB, Loud = F, Spain = S, Hand = R, Black = B

No 14709, Thursday 05 Feb 2026, Hypatia

Solution to 24A 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   Bounce back and run moving two steps ahead in one’s network? (8) RICOCHET {(+r)R1C(-r)OCHET}

5   Scatters bouquets (6) SPRAYS [DD]

10 Casually pick American or Japanese fish (3,4) KOI CARP {PICK+A+OR}*

11 Italian dish oddly thrown out from trains to station (7) RISOTTO {tRaInS+tO+sTaTiOn}

12 On retirement British Indian owns title (5) SAHIB {B}{I}{HAS}<=

13 Felt fur of bats is pretty tough (9) EFFORTFUL* 

14 Small girl with singer performing in blue robe (8,4) DRESSING GOWN {S+G+SINGER}* in {DOWN}

18 Good run for popular ride in a village mela, say (5,2,5) MERRY GO ROUND {MERRY}{GO ROUND}

21 Found incomplete URL changes essentially goof up to cause conflict (3,4,2) RUN FOUL OF {FOUNd+URL+goOF}* Essentially GOOF would be OO? (Correction {FOUNd+URL+goOFup}* - See comments)

23 Relating to bones usually located near arm's radius, primarily (5) ULNAR Acrostic

24 Best and worst grades on impartial school projects (7) A?F?I?S (Addendum - AFFAIRS {A}{F}{FAIR}{S} - See comments)

25 Beast managed lying about wife, partly not fully (7) NARWHAL {RAN<=}{W}{HALf}

26 Regularly selected shoe from Men's premium brand (6) HERMES {sHoE+fRoM+mEnS}

27 Combed Tim, especially around sleeping hours (8) BEDTIMES [T]

DOWN

1   Sportingly unconventional anorak is heavily hooded (6) RAKISH [T]

2   Saw bag leaving New England initially (6) CLICHE {CLInCH}{En...d}

3   Cold barren ground rarely cleared out for fruit (9) CRANBERRY {C}{BARREN}{Ra..lY}

4   Dull as an algebra class having no equations? (14) EXPRESSIONLESS {EXPRESSION LESS}

6   Sitter of a puzzle (5) POSER [DD]

7   Fine old cat struggling to lift tail up in unexpected disaster (3,2,3) ACT OF GOD {F+O+CAT}*{DOG<=}

8   Dull student in reasonable fast track? Just the opposite (4,4) SLOW LANE {LOW}{L} in {SANE}

9   Having turned, in effect, car crashing and speeding, for instance (7,7) TRAFFIC OFFENCE {OFF} in {IN+EFFECT+CAR}* 

15 Made U-turn right inside secure defence tower (3,6) GUN TURRET {U+TURN+R}* in {GET}

16 Article of flower put up in holy shrine (8) AMARNATH AMAR(-a)N(+a)ATH

17 Coaches drop international football official returning to shift (8) TRANSFER {TRAiNS}{REF<=}

19 Basically any nation's traditional hymn expressed musically! (6) ANTHEM Acrostic &lit

20 Registers after time and irritates (6) TROLLS {ROLLS}<=>{T}

22 Think of love and ache (5) OPINE {O}{PINE}

Reference List

Run = R, American = A, British = B, Indian = I, Small = S, Girl = S, School = S, Wife = W, New = N, Cold = C, Fine = F, Old = O, Student = L, Right = R, International = I, Time = T