No 14471, Tuesday 29 Apr 2025, Bruno

Solution to 8A 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 solve, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

1   Broadcast breakfast soap opera (6) SERIAL (~cereal)

4   Girl's admitting - was playing with rope (6) HAWSER {H{SAW*}ER}

8   Half-black West-facing skid row apartment (7) ?A?T?A? (Addendum - RATTRAP  {PART}{TAR}<= See comments)   

9   Foundation boarded hastily (7) ROADBED*

11 Slow to criticise shop in front (10) DELIBERATE {BERATE}<=>{DELI}

12 Cycling path with style (4) ELAN (+e)ELAN(-e)

13 Often suppressing secret need for drama (5) SCENE {SeCrEt+NeEd}

14 Creative and developmentally disabled, initially unsure, transforming into master finally (8) ARTISTIC A(-u+r)RTISTIC

16 Musical composition from follower starting to thrill continent (8) FANTASIA {FAN}{Th...l}{ASIA}

18 Fat specimen lacking structure basically (5) AMPLE sAMPLE

20 Grab drink recipe (4) TEAR {TEA}{R}

21 Clothes-maker makes a mess with braid (10) SEAMSTRESS {A+MESS}*{TRESS}

23 Setter's laid-back about suggestion of colonoscopy check-up (7) MEDICAL {ME}{LA{Co...y}ID<=}

24 Top team invited to mother's luncheon, at first (7) MAXIMAL {MA{XI}MA}{Lu..h}

25 Study of disease eliminated main cause - accepted alternative, finally (6) SURVEY {ScURV{a...vE}Y}

26 Develop ability to chew and bite etherified piece (6) TEETHE [T]

DOWN

1   Piece of glass finally dropped off at Eastern division (5) SHARE {SHARd}{E}

2   I learnt skipping rope (7) RATLINE*

3   Knowledge of a battle tingling most of senses (9) AWARENESS {A}{WAR}{SENSEs}*

5   In heaven, a cow's not popular (5) ABOVE {A}{BOVinE}

6   Dirty sand and weeds, essentially brought on board causing misery (7) SADNESS {SAND*}{weEds}{SS}

7   Review of expert surprisingly - missing point on chemical (2-7) RE-EXAMINE {EXpERt}*{AMINE}

10 What's sometimes seen on the head of God and Mahatmas - endlessly spreading (6,3) PANAMA HAT {PAN}{MAHATMAs}*

13 Quiet amateur at gym - smaller and lacking form (9) SHAPELESS {SH}{A}{PE}{LESS}

15 Tesla managed by Starlink head's dead - put this in other languages too... (9) TRANSLATE {T}{RAN}*{St...k}{LATE}

17 Dog's not very energetic at first - retriever, maybe? (7) TERRIER RETRIEveR*

19 Last person losing switch is character facing trial (7) PERSIST {PERSon}{IS}{Tr..l}

21 Takes wheels to move? (5) SKATE*

22 Lowest member of underworld gets to the top with nuance (5) SHADE (+s)SHADE(-s)

Reference List

Recipe = R, Team = XI, Eastern = E, Popular = IN, On nboard = Ship = SS, Point = PT, Quiet = SH, Amateur = A, gym = PE. Tesla = T, Very = V, Switch = ON