No 14861, Saturday 01 Aug 2026, Pixie Dust

 ACROSS
7 Air bubbles from damaged mobile (6) EMBOLI*
8 Not the first meal with short, sweet punch (8) UPPERCUT {sUPPER}{CUTe}

9 Disreputable persons repeatedly using a fir! (8) RIFFRAFF {A FIR}* [Letter Bank]
10 Independent male left foreign trade (6) IMPORT {I}{M}{PORT}
11 Disgusted Tom Cruise abandoning one user (8) CUSTOMER {TOM CRUiSE}*
12 Grandpa youthfully concealing distribution of money (3,3) PAY OUT [T]
13 Feverish pirate uses soft wipes (6,5) TISSUE PAPER {PIRATE USES P}*
18 High (from the beginning) she heard repetitive, incessant, loud litany (6) SHRILL [Acrostic]
20 Is this type of wooden case destroying aesthetics? (3,5) TEA CHEST {IS+TEA CHEST}*=AESTHETICS [CA]

22 Guard briefly thwarting initial attempt to split the eardrums (6) DEAFEN {DE{Attempt}FENd}
23 Spooner's dignity, lure and interest perhaps? (4,4) BANK RATE Spoonerism of RANK BAIT
24 Naughty Alice smothering mother and Herb (8) CAMOMILE ALICE* around MOM

25 Colfax mopes every now and then for fixes! (6) CLAMPS {CoLfAx MoPeS}

DOWN
1 Wicked rascal acknowledged dues (7) IMPIOUS {IMP}{IOUS}
2 Jerk cycling around often shredded pieces of coloured paper (8) CONFETTI {(+C)TI(-c)} around {OFTEN*}

3 Please //lay down weapons (6) DISARM [DD]
4 Ape a plant? (5-3) SPLIT PEA {APE}* [RA]

5 Stupid doctor, mainly ignorant, pathetic and extremely prickly (6) DRIPPY {DR}{Ignorant}{Pathetic}{PricklY}

6 Nearly upset bowl on top containing copper in the univalent state (7) CUPROUS {ROUSe}<=>{CUP}
8 Notable Battle of Rugen, perhaps (13) UNFORGETTABLE*
14 Resentment carried out without a bit of emotion's amazing! (8) SPLENDID {SPLEeN}{DID}
15 True! The reality is exposing something exquisite! (8) ETHEREAL [T]
16 Backtracking, loathe tailing revolutionary animal (7) CHEETAH {HATE<}<=>{CHE}

17...that is describing very elevated form of element (7) ISOTOPE {I{SO}{TOP}E}
19 Some werewolf nimbly reversing tide (6) INFLOW [T<]
21 Intermittently alarming, fierce bait for Leopard's-Bane! (6) ARNICA {AlaRmiNg fIerCe bAit}

REFERENCE LIST

Independent=I, Male=M, One=1=I, Acknowledged Dues=IOUs, Doctor=Dr., Revolutionary=Che (Guevara), that is=i.e. (id est).

No 14860, Friday 31 Jul 2026, Saral

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ACROSS

7   Old boy rejecting noisy town (7) BOROUGH {OB<=}{ROUGH}

8   Rogue caught after a crash (6) IMPACT {IMP}{CT}<=>{A}

9   Lifts metals reportedly (6) STEALS (~steels)

10 Piece of object next to parking (8) PARTICLE {ARTICLE}<=>{P}

11 Threaten private holding papers (10) INTIMIDATE {INTIM{ID}ATE}

13 Round bowl over almonds, say (4) NUTS<=

14 Jack covering strong pale gem (4) JADE (+j-f)JADE

16 Worms and flying bugs circling a bit of rasgulla (5) GRUBS {G{Ra...a}UBS*}

18 Dividend from a stock finally (4) PERK {PER}{s..cK}

19 Met nationalist hiding in hot place (4)  Changed on request from Saral.

19 Set naturally showing hot place (4) ETNA [T]

21 At home I have rotating counter that's necessary (10) INEVITABLE {IN}{IVE<=}{TABLE}

23 Each day doctor leading treatment of flu. Terrible! (8) DREADFUL {EA}{D}<=>{DR} and {FLU*}

25 Requests seafood around lunchtime (6) CLAIMS {CLA{1}MS}

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

27 At first cutting awfully hard, half of edam cheese (7) CHEDDAR {Cu...g}{HARD+EDam}*

DOWN

1   Pamphlet from party is with direction (8) TREATISE {TREAT}{IS}{E}

2   Suppressing question with anguish sadly (8) QUASHING {QU}{ANGUISH*}

3   Fried potato in college over (4) CHIP {HIP}<=>{C}

4   Intense fire spreading near church (6) FIERCE {FIRE}*{CE}

5   Possibility of quietly moving back old drink (6) OPTION (-p)O(+p)PTION

6   Carver creating top curls (8) SCULPTOR*

7   Primarily big and thick original neem stick (5) BATON Acrostic

12 Last letter covered in gold, again in blue (5) AZURE {A{Z}U}{RE}

15 New radio set for space traveller (8) ASTEROID*

17 Controls son scratching head of jerks (8) SWITCHES {S}{tWITCHES}

18 Scheme mainly to get vehicle with extremely dubious advertisements (8) PLACARDS {PLAn}{CAR}{Du...oS}

20 Lack of enthusiasm in a course ending in May (6) APATHY {A}{PATH}{maY}

21 Arrival of nine having new disease (6) INFLUX {IX} over {N}{FLU}

22 Primate catching bird in both hands (5) LEMUR {L}{EMU}{R}

24 Key partner inside blocks (4) LOCK [HIPS]

Reference List

Old boy = OB, Caught = CT, Parking = P, Papers = ID, Jack = J, Strong = F, Each = EA, Day = D, Queen = Q, QU,  Hesitation = ER, Direction = E, College = C, Church = CE, Quietly = P, Son = S, New = N