No 14486, Friday 16 May 2025, 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.

Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS

7   Timeless quotes about one American giant found in the woods (7) SEQUOIA {QUOtES*} over {1}

8   Fat black bumpkin (7) BLUBBER {B}{LUBBER}

10 Get real upset about ordinary, true character (5,3) ALTER EGO {GET+REAL}* over {O}

11 Production about Putin's houses (6) OUTPUT [T]

12 As if it has no variety for someone interested in haute couture (11) FASHIONISTA*

15 Go slow inside city (4) OSLO [T]

17 Mixing pain and love softly (5) PIANO {PAIN+0}*

18 Certainly hard to follow most of class (4) YEAH {H}<=>{YEAr}

19 Called in are soldiers! Time for understanding! (11) ARRANGEMENT {AR{RANG}E}{MEN}{T}

22 Take off day to teach (not American, not English) (6) DEDUCT {D}{EDUCaTe}

23 No, no! Certainly not! Team Spirit's almost all gone permanently! (8) EVERMORE {nEVER}{MORalE}

25 Sea creature, bold and fiercely alive, gobbles up heart of diver (7) BIVALVE {B}{IVAL{diVer}E*}

26 Wasting years in sarcasm, out of bounds wise men from time of Sangams or Keezhadi (4,3) IRON AGE {IRONy}{sAGEs}

DOWN

1   Judge's playful, grabs lady's sides, stingy creature! (9) JELLYFISH {J}{EL{LadY}FISH}

2   A threat can be assured (6) DURESS {DURESS+A}=ASSURED [CA]

3   Sounds like correct practice (4) RITE (~right)

4   Oldest boon in form of a precious mineral (10) BLOODSTONE*

5   Release notice (8) OBITUARY [CD]

6   Mostly notice odd part of blood (5) SERUM {SEe}{RUM}

9   An unfit peon becoming a writer! (8,3) FOUNTAIN PEN*

13 Critical: Cry not - Work hard at home ignoring one's heart! (10) IMPERATIVE {whIMPER}{nATIVE}

14 Mostly oriental sense of pride, passing over good chocolate candy (6,3) EASTER EGG {EASTERn}{E{G}Go}

16 Prophetic visual about Gunners (8) ORACULAR {O{RA}CULAR}

20 Some term in English for fur (6) ERMINE [T]

21 Foreigner involves in crime to get established (3,2) SET IN {S{ET}IN}

24 Get container for audience (4) EARN (~urn)

Reference List

Time = T, Black = B, Ordinary = O, Hard = H, Day = D, American = A, English = E, No = N, Bold = B, Judge = J, Work = W, Good = G, Gunners = RA(Royal Artillery)