No 14806, Friday 29 May 2026, Vidwan

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

8   Flying target caught by common hog, hairy one! (4,6) CLAY PIGEON {C}{LAY}{PIG}{ONE*}

9   Host may harm you internally (4) ARMY [T]

10 Temporary slips if bettering home (3,3,4,5) FOR THE TIME BEING*

11 Life of fairy back to forefront (6) ESPRIT (+e)ESPRIT(-e)

12 Leave your land as part of loan reimbursement at good value (8) EMIGRATE {EMI}{G}{RATE} 

15 America going in to violently overthrow ones in power (4) OUST {US} in {TO*}

17 Glorify timeless writing, most ancient (5) EXTOL {tEXT}{OLd}

18 Ram runs out for money (4) CASH CrASH

19 Almost earn twice, brewing common cold drink (3,5) ICE WATER {EARn+TWICE}*

20 Percussion instrument on fire, could be Afro-American (6) MARACA {MARACA+ON+FIRE}=AFRO-AMERICAN [CA] 

22 Deny Cornish sign about keeping different times for different things (15) DESYNCHRONISING*

25 One cutting pain, closer to sting (4) PANG {PAiN}{s..nG} Sting on double duty?

26 EC had extra hiccups with authority (2,8) EX CATHEDRA*

DOWN

1   Opens second grade weaving apparatuses (6) BLOOMS {B}{LOOMS}

2   Sweet story about a seafood dish (6,4) OYSTER STEW*

3   Jumps ahead of time, intended avoiding a company holdings sale (10) DIVESTMENT {DIVES}{T}{MEaNT}

4   Condition or track mind's eye to find coal or shale, say (11,4) SEDIMENTARY ROCK*

5   Investment in Vietnam from the east (4) ANTE [HIPS<=]

6   Most enormous English vessel (4) VASE {VASt}{E}

7   Eastern worker consumed by small issues (8) EMANATES {E}{MAN}{ATE}{S}

13 Evil Persian poet, beheaded by anti-reforms Christian sect (10) ILLUMINATI  {ILL}{rUMI}{ANTI*}

14 Rest and enrich, perhaps to give second term (10) RECHRISTEN {REST+ENRICH}*

16 At intervals, funny caller exposed Bin Laden and America (5,3) UNCLE SAM {fUnNy+CaLlEr}{oSAMa}

21 State of Trudeau, mostly after adopting Romeo's deception (6) CANARD {CANA{R}Da}

23 Years earlier retreats developed these meditative physical exercises (4) YOGA {Y}{AGO<=}

24 Heartless head cook (4) CHEF CHiEF

Reference List

Caught = C, Good = G, Time = T, Runs = R, Second grade = B, English = E, Eastern = E, Small = S, Romeo = R, Years = Y

No 14805, Thursday 28 May 2026, Vidwan

Eid Mubarak

Artwork by Prasanna

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

7   Perverted pest being exposed as world's biggest paedophile ringmaster (7) EPSTEIN {PEST*}{bEINg} 

8   Modest about press berth (7) CHARPOY {C{HARP}OY}

10 American cola cup supply for a Mexican resort (8) ACAPULCO {A}{COLA+CUP}*

11 Planet without active atmosphere, goes around our star (6) URANUS {aURA}{SUN<=}

12 Unhinged pure, endless joy, left suspended, held and put out again! (11) REPUBLISHED {PURE*}{BLISs}{HElD}

15 One going into club to lure (4) BAIT {BA{1}T}

17 German justice, occasionally hard for their neighbours (5) DUTCH {D}{jUsTiCe}{H}

18 Bar unopened always (4) EVER lEVER

19 A victory for new system? Bad in retrospect for a famous Italian Statesman! (11) MACHIAVELLI {MACHI(-n+av)AVE{ILL<=}

22 Zero grams lost at the end of it! (6) ?R?A?M (Addendum - ORGASM {0}{GRAMS*} - See comments)

23 Needs air conditioning for what is left for driver on Indian roads! (8) NEARSIDE*

25 Fabricators quoted 50% for a collection of spirits (7) LIQUORS {LI(-a+QUOted}RS}

26 Plain term describing creativity (7) SPARTAN {SP{ART}AN}

DOWN

1   Great animal feed for new foodie (9) EPICUREAN {EPIC}{UREA}{N}

2   Raise pets! (4-2) STEP-UP {PETS}<=

3   Evil follows with purpose (4) WILL {ILL}<=>{W}

4   King's Hospital urgency! Cuban revolutionary versus Soviet leader! (10) KHRUSHCHEV {K}{H}{RUSH}{CHE}{V}

5   Love reading about fabric (8) ORGANDIE {O}{READING*}

6   Can America fake? (5) BOGUS {BOG}{US}

9   No Christian converted in an ancient Greek City (11) CORINTHIANS*

13 It shoots by capturing ordinary day America, one missed originally (4,6) BODY CAMERA {B{O}{D}Y}{AMERiCA}*

14 I'd a dinner organised for someone like Pinarayi Vijayan? (3,6) RED INDIAN* DBE

16 Party MP! A numbskull! Stuffs eardrum! (8) TYMPANUM [T]

20 Rubbish result? (6) LUSTRE* What's the definition?

21 Bold search for binding (5) BRAID {B}{RAID}

24 Friends quietly moving down two places to a mountain range (4) ALPS (-p)AL(+p)PS

Reference List

American = A, Active = A, Left = L, German = D, Hard = H, Victory = V, New = N, With = W, King = K, Hospital = H, Versus = V, Ordinary = O, Day = D, Bold = B, Quietly = P