No 13507, Friday 18 Mar 2022, Dr. X

Artwork by Prasanna

Rangoli by Gowri

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS 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

1   Very attractive friend dated hot woman entering club (5-8) MOUTH-WATERING {M{OUT}{H}{W}ATE}{RING}

8   Fancy scoring cocaine and ecstasy in European island (5) CAPRI CAPRIce

9   Poor drifters eating onion essentially cooked in a wok (4-5) STIR-FRIED {DRIFTERS}* over {onIon}

11 Praised poem naughtily expressing essentially hot fantasies (4,6) PIPE DREAMS{PRAISED+PoEM}*

12 Harm caused by girl avoiding mask (4) LOSS gLOSS

14 Not any danger going round large city in Russia (7) NORILSK {NO RI{L}SK}

16 International live broadcast about navy of Spain and Portugal (7) IBERIAN {I}{BE}{AIR<=}{N}

17 Tough opening batsman’s ploy to take single at end of over (7) BRUISER {Ba...n}{RU{1}SE}{oveR}

19 Sullied, harassed and treated badly (3-4) ILL-USED*

21 Loaf and bagel left for royal (4) LOLL (-r+l)LOLL

22 One in Capitol perhaps? (10) POLITICIAN {1+IN+CAPITOL}*

25 Observant spy heard renegade going around base (5-4) SHARP-EYED {SPY+HEARD}* over {E}

26 Detests partners starting to hoodwink for money (5) HATES (-m+h)HATES

27 Nervous hunters catching glimpse of dinosaur beside van, gobsmacked (13) THUNDERSTRUCK {THUN{Di...r}ERS*}{TRUCK}

DOWN

2   Supposedly only eats soft food, getting older finally (2,5) ON PAPER {ON{PAP}E}{o..eR}

3   Scandalous dirt about hot college girl of inferior character (5-5) THIRD-CLASS {T{H}IRD*}{C}{LASS}

4   Hurry to remove top after wife gets bare (5) WASTE {hASTE}<=>{W}

5   Three officers of ancient Rome in atrium, virile (9) TRIUMVIRI [T]

6   Runs provided by fine hook (4) RIFF {R}{IF}{F} Semi&lit

7   Popular revolutionary holding excellent rifle in African capital (7) NAIROBI {IN<=} over {A1}{ROB}

8   Labels over container on bed, funny, showing insignia of court jester (3,3,5) CAP AND BELLS {CA{PAN}{BED*}LLS}

10 Hosted by studs, beach party at noon rules (3,3,5) DOS AND DONTS {DOTS} over {SAND}{DO}{N}

13 Sympathiser — one throwing money in watering hole? (4-6) WELL-WISHER [DD]

15 Appearance of chromosomes is pretty okay, discovered no trace of trisomy (9) KARYOTYPE {PREtTY+OKAY}*

18 Free ale? Huns go berserk (7) UNLEASH*

20 Detailed investigation about a little irregular spasm of the hip (7) SCIATIC {SC{Ir...r}An}{TIC}

23 India’s top star turns to welcome date, giving flower (5) INDUS {In..a}{SU{D}N<=}

24 Endless bravery in revolution (4) SPIN SPINe

Reference List

Dated = OUT, Hot = H, Woman = W, Cocaine = C, Ecstasy = E, Girl = G, Large = L, Intrnational = I, Live = BE, Navy = N, Left = L, Royal = R, Base = E, Money = M, Soft food = PAP, College = C, Wife = W, Runs = R, Fine = F, Party = DO, Noon = N, Date = D