No 14919, Friday 09 Oct 2026, Pixie Dust

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

7   Oh! This dessert funnily got a hole! (6) GELATO {GELATO+OH}*=GOT A HOLE

8   Study substitute with a bit of terrifying condescension (8) CONTEMPT {CON}{TEMP}{Te...g}

9   Essentially Jacob must stick to this kind of musical instrument (8) ACOUSTIC {jACOb}{mUSt}{sTICk}

10 Scoundrel cycling around Henry, sniffles (6) WHINES {(-s)W{H}INE(+s)S}

11 Master stroke acquiring one British Bar (8) PROHIBIT {PRO}{H{1}{B}IT}

12 Losing face, lamenting and suffering (6) AILING wAILING

13 Live on...smitten! (5,2,4) MADLY IN LOVE {LIVE+ON}* [RA]

18 Authorise a manager to disclose rating in London (6) SEAMAN [T]

20 Perhaps stay fit accepting rule to classify according to a graded scale (8) STRATIFY {STAY+FIT} over {R}

22 Mate regularly ignoring Bishop's corrupt scheme (6) SPOUSE {biShoPs+cOrrUpt+SchEme}

23 Swell! Here batter is safe! (8) INCREASE {IN CREASE}

24 Look, Sir! ET's are to a certain extent backing star? (8) ASTERISK [T<=]

25 Penny chases husband out and hammers (6) POUNDS {P}{hOUNDS}

DOWN

1   Happy boxing copper element (7) MERCURY {MER{CU}RY}

2   Old Russian woman's headscarf (8) BABUSHKA [DD]

3   Spooner's child (middle) in steam bath? (3,3) HOT TUB (~tot hub to hot tub)

4   Blizzard? Fellow is beginning to breakdown and explode (8) SNOWBALL SNOW(-f+b)BALL

5   Delivered grain soap (6) SERIAL (~cereal)

6   Special transparent material protecting primarily exposed organs (7) SPLEENS {SP}{LE{Ex...d}NS}

8   Frequently used tack oils for cylindrical skewer? (8,5) COCKTAIL STICK {TACK+OILS}* [Letter Bank]

14 Hang on! Don't start to tell a story in undies (8) LINGERIE {LINGER}{lIE}

15 Corrupted virtue...so like glass! (8) VITREOUS* 

16 Experiment involving English politician leads to commotion (7) TEMPEST {T{E}{MP}EST}

17 Harry dies of mainly fatigue in part of a cricket field (3,4) OFF SIDE {DIES+OF+Fa...e}*

19 Guy goes around university with date and gets attacked (6) MAULED {MA{U}LE}{D}

21 For starters, roast eggplant chunks in parmesan emulsion (6) RECIPE Acrostic Semi&lit

Reference List

Study = CON, Henry = H, British = B, Rule = R, Penny = P, Husband = H, Fellow = F, Special = SP, English = E, Politician = MP, University = U, Date = D

No 14918, Thursday 08 Oct 2026, Pixie Dust

Solution to 14D 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   American churchman not beginning to bother about country (6) ARABIA {A}{ RAbBI}{A}

5   It's believed that swallow modelled (8) SUPPOSED {SUP}{POSED}

9   Can these men of letters recreate real Titanic? (8) LITERATI {LITERATI+CAN}*=REAL TITANIC [CA]

10 South African animal delivered brand of footwear (6) RHEBOK (~reebok)

11 Toss a coin up umpteen times for a delicious beverage? (10) CAPPUCCINO {A+COIN+UP}* [Letter Bank]

12 Leonidas regularly missing targets (4) ENDS lEoNiDaS

13 Day and night, say, Santo cycling around city Male (8) ANTONYMS {(-s)ANTO(+s)S} over {NY}{M}

16 Bogus Dame? (4-2) MADE-UP {DAME}*

17 Prompt understanding for those in hearing (6) INCITE (~in sight)

19 Doctor has decks, one makes payments here (4,4) CASH DESK*

21 Mother India from east or west (4) AMMA <=>

22 Avoid skirt (10) CIRCUMVENT [DD] 

25 Husband! Kiss and cuddle, mother's away for errand basically (3,3) EKE OUT {(-ma+e)EKE OUT}

26 Tiro Quoist protecting a member of a former confederacy (8) IROQUOIS [T]

27 Used card all over the place and struggled (8) CRUSADED*

28 Spooner suggests: "Caress Sprite for a generous package!" (3,3) FAT PAY (~pat fay to fat pay)

DOWN

2   For starters, radish and Italian tomatoes added in a yogurt-based dish (5) RAITA Acrostic

3   Some scrape elbows back-to-front and make a high-pitched sound (5) BLEEP [T<=]

4   A new year welcoming playful pandemonium (7) ANARCHY {A}{N}{ARCH}{Y}

5   Strong drinks for ghosts (7) SPIRITS [DD]

6   Represent each type (7) PERFORM {PER}{FORM}

7   Penned ode about something that is unrestricted? (4-5) OPEN-ENDED*

8   Old rum I'd so let loose in opening remarks (9) EXORDIUMS {EX}{RUM+ID+SO}*

14 One who never lets cancer stick near? (3-6) N?N-?M?K?R (Addendum - NON-SMOKER [CD] - See comments)

15 First sign of orphan Pirrip, say, with Spark? Almost magnificent! (9) OPIPAROUS {Or...n}{PIP}{AROUSe}

18 In a panic mentioned tailing former boyfriend (7) EXCITED {CITED}<=>{EX}

19 Moved, shed tears over Army Regulation (7) CARRIED {C{A}{R}RIED}

20 Disconnect appliances which you want to babyproof yourself at last (4,3) SHUT OFF Tail Acrostic

23 Clear the cellar (5) VAULT [DD]

24 Currency found in Malaysian AirAsia (5) NAIRA [T]

Reference List

American = A, About = A, Swallow = SUP, City = NY, Male = M, New  = N, Year = Y, Old = EX, Army Regulation = AR