No 14761, Tuesday 07 Apr 2026, Dr. X

Solution to 23A 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   Stretched slowly at first and exercised (8) STRAINED {Sl...y}{TRAINED}

5   Heavenly body of model, extremely elegant (6) PLANET {PLAN}{El...nT}

10 Cold drink with favourite yeast cake (7) CRUMPET {C}{RUM}{PET}

11 Old Greek soldier's drunk in party, tottering essentially (7) HOPLITE {LIT} in {HOP}{t..tEr..g}

12 Visit halfway houses around Finnish city (5) LAHTI [T<=]

13 Mother resents untidy mess (5,4) MARES NEST {MA}{RESENTS}*

14 British dramatist performed hard role after drinking beer (6,6) HAROLD PINTER {HARD+ROLE}* over {PINT}

18 Ugh! Womaniser ruined first party at home (12) HOUSEWARMING*

21 Slyly beginning to reveal offences in the real lives of film actors (3-6) OFF-SCREEN {Re...l+OFFENCES}*

23 Put down mask after end of pandemic (5) C?I?E (Addendum - CHIDE {HIDE}<=>{p...iC} - See comments)

24 American poet of note in independent American university (7) FRENEAU {FRE{N}E}{A}{U}

25 Lights in rear of building site malfunctioned (7) IGNITES {IN+b...nG+SITE}*

26 Reeds around a waterway (3,3) RED SEA {REEDS}*{A}

27 Devilish fellow knocking out model in home (8) INFERNAL IN(-t+f)FERNAL

DOWN

1   Small boy going close to nurse (6) SUCKLE {S}{bUCKLE}

2   Thugs in drains ultimately get away (6) ROUGHS tROUGHS

3   Incriminate rogue and Latin American model involved in murder (9) IMPLICATE {IMP}{L}{IC{A}{T}E}

4   Impromptu poem about needless curbs (14) EXTEMPORANEOUS {EXT{POEM*}RANEOUS}

6   England's opener charges, cuts and runs (5) LOPES {LOP{En...h}S}

7   Comment about deli's latest cake and chocolate made with hazelnuts (8) NOISETTE {NO{delI}{SET}TE}

8   See 16

9   Depth of modernist Hindi novel (5,9) THIRD DIMENSION*

15 Clean hands in hotel after eating cake on vacation (9) INNOCENCE {INN}{O{CakE}NCE}

16 & 8 What camera crew will do to dream big (5,3,3,5) SHOOT FOR THE STARS [DD]

17 Where ball lifted vigorously over umpire's head will be? (8) OUTFIELD {O}{Um...e}{LIFTED*} Semi&lit

19 Stung in Tibet, injured by scorpion's tail (6) BITTEN {TIBET}*{s...oN}

20 Treacherous person's wife left to have peace of mind (6) WEASEL {W}{L} over {EASE}

22 Diabetic repents eating pancake (5) CREPE [T]

Reference List

Cold = C, Note = N, American = A, University = U, Fellow = F, Model = T, Small = S, Boy = B, Latin = L, Murder = ICE, Wife = W, Left = L

No 14760, Monday 06 Apr 2026, Afterdark

Solution to 22A 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   Deteriorated in speech in 10 years (6) DECADE (~decayed)

4   Say, transport cat in mat (6) CARPET {CAR}{PET}

9   Ingredients in muesli, milk are insufficient (4) SLIM [T]

10 Pastor's feeling bitter about offering (10) PRESENTING {P}{RESENTING}

11 Boxes with guerilla on street square (6) CHESTS {CHE}{ST}{S}

12 Tied up a new thief in Delhi, held every second (8) ANCHORED {A}{N}{CHOR}{hElD}

13 Join volunteers in treat (9) ENTERTAIN {ENTER}{TA}{IN}

15 Good points on birds (5) GEESE {G}{E}{E}{S}{E}

16 Prince's fish gets head bitten off by young dog (5) PUPPY {P}{gUPPY}

18 Two characters substitute each offer to get dressmakers as clients (9) CUSTOMERS {C)-o+u)UST(-u+o)OMERS} each offer or each other?

22 Brussels' tie with one at Norway? No, it's Danish, perhaps (8) ?U?O?E?N (Addendum - EUROPEAN {EU}{ROPE}{A}{N} - See comments)

23 Tour without pressure, fly perhaps (6) INSECT INSpECT

25 Companies have function in public transports crossing limits at the terminus (10) {BU{SINE}SES} over {l...tS}

26 One time in elders' house there were rodents (4) RATS {R{A}{T}S} 

27 Companionless ladies surround single with ponytail (6) LONELY {L}{ONE}{L}{ponY}

28 Doctor stays behind small yard having sold perimeter away to Mark (6) SYMBOL {MB}<=>{S}{Y} and {sOLd}

DOWN

1   For starters, daughter ordered large portion, hotel in need to get fish (7) DOLPHIN Acrostic

2   Charlie and Henry evicted from residence and society (5) COMES {C}{hOME}{S} Definition?

3   Store in store? Yes in Spain, set inside (7) DEPOSIT {DEPO{SI}T}

5   Department in New York seizes cocaine after a great engagement at the front (6) AGENCY {N{C}Y}<=>{A}{Great}{En...t}

6   Convert rupee to ml of fuel (9) PETROLEUM*

7   When females becomes tense filters become passages (7) TUNNELS (-f+t)TUNNELS

8   Auntie's scones are prepared with perseverance (13) TENACIOUSNESS*

14 Once poison is administered after injecting some lead, it will be an outbreak (9) EXPLOSION {EX}{POISON+Lead}*

17 One French-American seen with unionist gangster which is rare (7) UNUSUAL {UN}{US}{U}{AL}

19 Longing for a number featuring Sinead O' Connor primarily (7) THIRSTY {THIR{Si...r}TY}

20 Report? Article is being rewritten (7) RECITAL*

21 Say, Rice's first conflict on East is bona fide (6) CEREAL {Co...t}{E}{REAL}

24 Supreme Court obstacle for Bush (5) SCRUB {SC}{RUB}

Reference List

Pastor = P, Street = ST, Square = S, New = N, Thief in Delhi = CHOR, Volunteers = TA(Territorial Army), Good = G, Points = E,S, Prince = P, Pressure = P, Time = T, Elders' house = RS(Rajya Sabha), Lady = L, Small = S, Yar = Y, Charlie = C, Henry = H, Society = S, Yes in Spanish = SI, Cocaine = C, Females = F, Tense = T, One in French = UN, Gangster = AL(Capone), East = E