No 14722, Friday 20 Feb 2026, VMA Nair

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   Poke around old parlour (6) LOUNGE {L{O}UNGE}

4   General manager finally arranged photographic equipment (8) ENLARGER {GENERAL+m...eR}*

My father's enlarger

9   Head of inventory in Somalia enthralled by lively merger (6) FUSION {S{In...y}O} in {FUN}

10 Arab chaps present at the back (8) REARWARD {RE{AR}WARD}

12 Your old guards about to acknowledge a funeral song (8) THRENODY {TH{RE}{NOD}Y}

13 Cry over one boring North American country (6) BOSNIA {SOB<=}{N{1}A}

15 Forged math degree to get tasks regularly and to succeed (4,3,5) MAKE THE GRADE {MATH+DEGREE}* over {tAsKs}

18 Better tell salesman at the entrance casually to pack a furniture item (7,5) TRESTLE TABLE {BETTER+TELL+Sa...n}* over {A}

21 Core of Putin's ideologies (6) INSIDE [T]

22 Worker dumping good, bulkier clothes behind old undergarments primarily (8) LABOURER {LARgER} over {Be...d}{Old}{Un...s}

24 Way to receive grant for gambling game (8) ROULETTE {ROU{LET}TE}

25 Sister collecting money for organized protests (3-3) SIT-INS {SI{TIN}S}

26 Black coffers kept inside vault (8) DARKSOME {D{ARKS}OME}

27 Country essentially secured borders of Ghana (6) UGANDA {secUred}{G and A from GhanA}

DOWN

1   Duration of English film E.T. varies outside India (8) LIFETIME {E+FILM+ET}* over {I}

2   Unusual posture limiting king's movement towards top (8) UPSTROKE {UPSTRO{K}E*}

3   Dangerous, stoned criminal showing friendliness (4-11) GOOD-NATUREDNESS*

5   Christmas story unsettling Vatican City (4) NOEL NOvEL 

6   Company owned by Indian origin techies initially developed system for controlling the temperature (3-12) AIR-CONDITIONING {CO} in {INDIAN+ORIGIN+Te...s}*

7   Old woman from Gabon controlled New York (6) GRANNY {G}{RAN}{NY}

8   Detective Inspector taps official phone again (6) REDIAL {RE{DI}AL}

11 Unlucky day to open state park? Not quite (7) ADVERSE {A{D}VER}SEt}

14 Navy mainly taking tips from lawmakers on amount a person can carry (7) ARMLOAD {ARM{La...s}{On}ADa}

16 Seaman given unopened parcel for cancellation (8) ABORTION {AB}{pORTION}

17 Harry Kane has supporters in US state (8) NEBRASKA {NE{BRAS}KA*}

19 Couple on board ultimately having a series of rows (6) TIERED {TIE}{RE}{b..rD}

20 Publisher lives with petitioner (6) ISSUER {IS}{SUER}

23 Spot a male cat (4) ATOM {A}{TOM}

Reference List

Old = O, Arab = AR, About = RE, Good = G, Money = TIN, English = E, India = I, King = K, Vatican City = V, Detective Inspector = DI, Day = D, Seaman = AB, Supporters = BRAS, On = RE

No 14721, Thursday 19 Feb 2026, Crossant

Solution to 14A 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   Walk outside the French castle (6) PALACE {PA{LA}CE}

4   About security devices - they could have alarms (6) CLOCKS {C}{LOCKS}

8   Aunt just cut call in the middle - that's strange (7) UNUSUAL {aUNt}{jUSt}{cUt}{cALl} 'That's' is superfluous

9   Fuel nearly explodes in service stations (7) GARAGES {GAs}{RAGES}

11 Students of "Holy Cross Bangalore" basically adapted right away (10) SCHOOLBOYS {HOLY+CrOSS+B}*  One 'O' less in the fodder

12 Fine couple, husband doing duty for wife (4) THIN T(+h-w)HIN

13 Snails may be seen regularly lying around in hollow (5) BASIN {sNaIlS+mAy+Be}<=

14 Compulsory stop checking for police vans essentially (8) E?F?R?E? (Addendum - ENFORCED {EN{FOR}{poliCE vans}D} - See comments)

16 Most delighted with taste of puff pastry filling. Hats off! (8) HAPPIEST {Puff}{PIE} in {HATS}*

18 Checks rules for auditor (5) REINS (~reigns)

20 Receives good education through school primarily (4) GETS Acrostic

21 Data? It's repeatedly cast out (10) STATISTICS {ITS+ITS+CAST}* Letter Bank Fodder should be together See comments 

23 Typical Donald nonsense basically rejected by Greenland angrily (7) GENERAL {GREENLAnd}*

24 Right, Arsenal perhaps missing good athletes (7) RUNNERS {R}{gUNNERS}

25 Extremely silly to stop practice (6) SYSTEM {SillY}{STEM}

26 Youngsters eventually enjoy retro bars (6) LEVERS {y...rS}{REVEL}<=

DOWN

1   Captain missing at ground causing alarm (5) PANIC CaPtAIN*

2   Reportedly reduces exercises (7) LESSONS (~lessens)

3   Tax restructuring restricts sellers essentially (9) CHALLENGE {CHA{seLLErs}NGE} 

5   Esophageal reflux regularly increases (5) LEAPS {eSoPhAgEaL}<=

6   American actress and singer has got talent, right? (7) CHARTER {CH{ART}ER}

7   Remarkable types of rodents climbing up inside small cages (9) SPECIMENS {S}{P{MICE<=}ENS}

10 Aspiring model wearing red A-line top (9) POTENTIAL {T} in {A+LINE+TOP}* 

13 Couple rents jewellery (9) BRACELETS {BRACE}{LETS}

15 Equipment's defective? If unused from the beginning - return (9) FURNITURE {IF+Un...d+RETURN}*

17 Signs of protests erupting, rejecting leader of Teheran (7) POSTERS PROtESTS*

19 Great batting future perhaps (7) INTENSE {IN}{TENSE}

21 Start with 1 Down? (5) SCARE [DD]

22 Maybe King and Queen scared about losing empire finally (5) CARDS SCAReD*

Reference List

The in French = LA, About = C, Right = R, Husband = H, Wife = W, Right = R, Good = G, Small = S, Model = T, Batting = IN