No 14916, Tuesday 06 Oct 2026, Karaoke

Solution to 19A 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   Mrs. Henry rues uncontrollably while narrating unknown verses for children (7,6) NURSERY RHYMES {MRS+HENRY+RUES}* over {Y}

10 Where a train should be to make progress? (2,5) ON TRACK [DD]

11 Perfect to enjoy long time in retreat (7) SHELTER {SHE{L}{T}ER}

12 Lack of interest, of course, in any case (6) APATHY {An{PATH}Y}

13 Spooner's father gambles amounts that can never be recovered (3,5) BAD DEBTS (~dad bets to bad debts)

14 Before the end of day, fancy thing worn by women (6) NIGHTY  {daY}<=>{THING}*

16 0° Celsius or 32° Fahrenheit from inception, maybe not new (3,5) ICE POINT INCEPTIOn*

19 Skirts around central party's cocktails (8) M?R?I?I? (Addendum - MARTINIS {M{pARTy}INIS} - See comments)

20 Programming specialist in school, skips advanced information engineering initially (6) TECHIE {TEaCH}{In...n}{En...g}

21 They guard the chests by taking extraordinary care with big guns at boundary (3,5) RIB CAGES {CARE+BIG+gunS}*

23 Allowed nothing over board (6) LINTEL {LET}{NIL}<= Lintel is a BEAM not BOARD

26 Hanging harmful revolutionary in dream (7) LOLLING {LO{ILL<=}NG}

27 Knock panda group at the midpoint? It's not possible (2,3,2) NO CAN DO {kNOCk+pANDa+grOup}

28 Outstanding girl studies Hindi with difficulty (13) DISTINGUISHED  {G+STUDIES+HINDI}*

DOWN

2   Diehard setter opts out of ritual dance (5) ULTRA RiTUAL*

3   Something to eat during breaks over the table mainly perhaps with Karaoke (9) SPAGHETTI {GAPS<=}{THE+Ta..e}*{I}

4   Ignore boy, check for playboy (4) RAKE bRAKE

5   Fact-finding coordinator at centre leaves his career in a fit of anger (8) RESEARCH {HiS+CAREER}*

6   Why I say, silently leave trophy and admit defeat (5) YIELD{(~why)Y}{shIELD}

7   Found enjoyment, going topless, holding rounded clubs (9) ESTABLISH {rE{BATS<=}LISH}

8   Some rural man confused about new CIVIL ID perhaps? (5,8) ROMAN NUMERALS {SOME+RURAL+MAN}* over {N} DBE

9   Terrible loss for other Congress mainly when politicians join the opposite side (5,3,5) CROSS THE FLOOR {LOSS+FOR+OTHER+Co...s}*

15 Mock up one person without natural covering mostly in loose blouse (9) GARIBALDI {RAG<=}{I}{BALD}{In}

17 Inspector shot main criminal for major offence within boundaries (9) PRECINCTS {INSPECT(+c-o)CR}*

18 Mercenary from Edinburgh working to eliminate bishop (5,3) HIRED GUN EDINbURGH*

22 Part of hospital is tailor-made for noted celebrities in the show business (1-4) A-LIST [T]

24 Heavy-weight wife leaves Newton, while cycling (5) TONNE (+ton)TONNE(-w)(-ton)

25 Two-toed sloth runs heartily on the banks of Anapu (4) UNAU {rUNs}{AnapU}

Reference List

Unknown = Y, Long = L, Time = T, New = N, Advanced = A, Girl = G, Boy = B, Silently = SH, Bishop = B, Wife = W

No 14915, Monday 05 Oct 2026, Gussalufz

Solution to 5D 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.

THREE TRICKY ONES

ACROSS

9   One gets complaints so dumb! Am flustered and close to exhaustion (9) OMBUDSMAN {SO+DUMB+AM}*{e...oN}

10 Wicked bouncer, jaffa? Look, concentrate, finally duck (5) DRAKE Tail Acrostic

11 Take it quietly, go on (7) PRESUME {P}{RESUME}

12 Breathe fire (7) INSPIRE [DD]

13 Turn vessel collecting drip (5) PIVOT {P{IV}OT}

14 A question about relationships (9) EQUATIONS*

16 Sec. censored porn scattered in letters (15) CORRESPONDENCES*

19 Maybe insert a comma in wordplay; cut roughly at end of phrase? (9) PUNCTUATE {PUN}{CUT*}{AT}{p...sE}

22 Frenchman and German captured by spies backing trickery (5) MAGIC {M}{CI{G}A<=}

24 Tried miserably sad eyes (7) ESSAYED*

26 First among desserts is cake trimmed with fudge (7) DISTORT {De...s}{IS}{TORTe}

27 Fierce dinosaur repelled after conclusion of dire struggle (5) EXERT {T-REX<=}<=>{dirE}

28 Secret of strep, one merciless bacterium (9) TREPONEME [T]

DOWN

1   Enliven very plump-at-the-core small dog (4,2) SOUP UP {SO}{plUmp}{PUP}

2   Witness some deliveries bearing "Bombay Stock Exchange" sticker at the bottom (8) OBSERVER {O{BSE}{s...eR}VER}

3   Student jam triggered change (10) ADJUSTMENT*

4   Victim: pedestrian hanging outside bar (6) IMPEDE [T]

5   Tailless lizard — it can be black or red on top — from a Caribbean island (8) ?N?I?U?N (Addendum - ANTIGUAN {ANT}{IGUANa} - See comments)

6   Podcaster's sales pitches for supplements (4) ADDS (~ads}

7   Some countered: London is actually a better place? (6) CASINO [T<=]

8   Oracle up, reinforced by tax breaks (8) RECESSES {SEER<=} over {CESS}

15 The real aim, ultimately, is to start to reverse-engineer a semiconductor device (10) THERMISTOR {THE}{R}{aiM}{IS}{TO}{Re...r}

16 Encrypted redesign of chip before sending, essentially (8) CIPHERED {CHIP*}{ERE}{senDing}

17 Congratulations, extremely professional investigations! (8) PLAUDITS {Pr...aL}{AUDITS}

18 Minor employee can at last sign name (8) COGNOMEN {COG}{caN}{OMEN}

20 More demanding about one's working post-retirement (6) NOSIER {RE}{1'S}{ON}<=

21 Editor passes on some current events (6) EDDIES {ED}{DIES}

23 Catholic feels sorry for priest getting ignored in urban areas (6) CITIES {C}{pITIES}

25 Hairy creature regularly seen lifting in the gym (4) YETI {In+ThE+gYm}<=

Reference List

Quietly = P, Drip = IV, Frenchman = M< German = G, Real = R, Before = ERE, About = RE, Editor = ED, Catholic = C, Priest = P