No 14218, Thursday 04 Jul 2024, Vidwan

Solution to 22D 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

8   Flunking with his stupid, unrealistic idea (7,8) WISHFUL THINKING*

9   Small radio enthusiast is fake (4) SHAM {S}{HAM}

10 Doubt popular judgement (10) INDECISION {IN}{DECISION}

11 Shut if out for peep (6) SHUFTI*

13 Some job structures hinder progress (8) OBSTRUCT [T]

14 Vacation? Cold in England? Come with wine and immunity document! (7,8) VACCINE PASSPORT {VAC}{C}{IN}{E}{PASS}{PORT}

17 Pilot carried trash of sticky stuff that catches insects (8) FLYPAPER {FLY{PAP}ER}

19 Make thinner, air fry maybe! (6) RARIFY*

21 These fishers with AI can make mineral water (10) TRAWLERMEN [CA] {TRAWLERMEN+AI}*={MINERAL WATER}

22 Price's about right! Gratis! (4) FREE {F{R}EE}

23 Refer to nothing, talk and argue evasively after losing head on Zoom, for example (15) VIDEOCONFERENCE {VIDE}{O}{CONFER}{fENCE}

DOWN

1   Height could be 12.5%? (6) EIGHTH*

2   Fancy working hard in marketplace, at start (4) WHIM Acrostic

3   Test car scoring 1 in 100 (8) AUDITION {AUDI}{T{1}ON}

4   Accommodation for Lady Killer/Intelligence Officer, alone and slightly more than half mad (6,9) STUDIO APARTMENT {STUD}{IO}{APART}{MENTal}

5   Group of entertainers travelling about, mostly with people in general (6) CIRCUS {CIRCa}{US}

6   Short swashbuckling Indian batsman's small escapade, gets runs, stands tall like Burj Khalifa! (10) SKYSCRAPER {SKY}{SCRAPE}{R}

7   One who implements some regimen for certain? (8) ENFORCER [T]

12 Cosmetic item for loud master keeping Germany in control (4,6) FACE POWDER {F}{ACE}{POW{D}ER}

15 Hypersensitive - every unit of energy is consumed at start! (8) ALLERGIC {ALL}{ERG}{Is}{Co...d}

16 Unknown street guard (8) STRANGER {ST}{RANGER}

18 Quietly arrive at address (6) PREACH {P}{REACH}

20 Wild fire and ice! Most wild! (6) FIERCE {FIRE}*{iCE}

22 Following the law for contract (4) F?E? (Addendum FLEX  {F}{LEX} - See comments) 

Reference List

Small = S, Popular = IN, Vacation = VAC, Cold = C, England = E, Right = R, Runs = R, Loud = F, Germany = D, Street = ST, Quietly = P, Following = F