No 14604, Friday 03 Oct 2025, Bruno

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

6   Large American city with no grassy area (5) LLANO {L}{LA}{NO}

7   Record-breaking complex not an ogre - made with this building material (3, 5) RED BRICK  {RECorDBReaKIng}*

10 If part of the body's... (7) MIDRIFF IF is middle of rIFf  Semi&lit

11 ... even touched, cut off wrap (7) ENVELOP {EVEN}*{LOP} Touched/Anind?

12 Grill AI-inspired child following centre of exhibit (7) HIBACHI {A{CH}I}<=>{exHIBit}

13 Whip son having no hint of any guts (7) SCOURGE {S}{COURaGE}

14 How's this Olympic event? (11) SHOWJUMPING {HOWS}* [RA]

19 Declare: most of Mexican cooking contains mainly lentils (7) EXCLAIM {MEXICAn}* over {Le...s}

21 Moderate seaside area home to bulk of organisms (7) QUALIFY {QUA{LIFe}Y}

23 Fire current into fuel with a kind of cable (7) COAXIAL {AX}{I} in {COAL}

25 Russia's last liberal collapsed at heart imprisoned in ruler's castle (7) ALCAZAR {r...iA}{L}{C{collApsed}ZAR}

26 Led Zeppelin originally played around AZ after Robert essentially became blind (8) BEDAZZLE {LED+Ze...n} over {AZ} after {roBErt}

27 Crossing river... cold with fear (5) DREAD {D{R}EAD}

DOWN

1   Spooner's father gambles and defaults (3,5) BAD DEBTS (dad bets to bad debts)

2   Set of signs some cricket match in South Africa's corrupt to begin with (6) ZODIAC {Z{ODI}A}{Co...t}

3   Storm's often very loud in Jamaica - leaving area destroyed and long vehicle lines (7,3) TRAFFIC JAM {sToRm} and {FF} in {JAMAICa}*

4   Grandad zealously guarding tool (4) ADZE [T]

5   Leader disregarded funny visual (6) OCULAR jOCULAR

6   Tissues of Latin Goddesses expressing sadness, at heart (6) LYMPHS {L}{nYMPHS}

8   Italian food recipe has garlic sauce infused with bit of vinegar (7) RAVIOLI {R}{A{Vi...r}IOLI}

9   Mysterious sound's starting when setting up Zoom (5) SPEED {DEEP}{So..d}<=

13 Note: Resume developed with AI (first version) can contain questionable beginning (10) SEMIQUAVER {RESUME+AI+Ve...n} over {Qu...e}*

15 Old vehicle in America - one that produces sound through holes (7) OCARINA {O}{CAR}{IN}{A}

16 Grey-haired girl showered with top off (8) GRIZZLED {G}{dRIZZLED}

17 Throw out some rebel churchgoers (5) BELCH [T]

18 Extremely happy new wife leaving home finally, becomes cross (6) HYBRID {HappY}{BRIDe}

20 Mad-Z chasing car crashes (6) CRAZED {ZED}<=>{CAR}*

22 Agree - Eastern Indian peninsula largely needs to be uplifted (6) ACCEDE {E}{DECCAn}<=

24 Dim husband becoming large and idle (4) LAZY (-h+l)LAZY

Reference List

Large = L, Child = CH, Son = S, Fire = AX, Current = I, Liberal = L, River = R, South Africa = ZA, Very loud = FF, Latin = L, Recipe = R, Old = O, America = A, Girl = G, Eastern = E, Husband = H

Special, Thursday 02 Oct 2025, Veeyares

Artwork by Prasanna

Three answers per commenter till 1 PM (Annotations compulsory) 

Please submit all your answers in one comment.  

(COMMENTS ENTERED WITH LESS THAN THREE ANSWERS/ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE, UNLESS THE COMMENTER SPECIFIES THAT IT IS A COMPENSATION FOR A REPEAT)

Enjoy.

No 14603, Wednesday 01 Oct 2025, Hypatia

Rangoli by Gowri

Solution to 23A 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

7   Great fun with one entertained by computer (8) MAJESTIC {MA{JEST}{1}C}

9   Bored by working, had director repented (6) ATONED {AT{ON}E}{D}

10 Maiden painting store (4) MART {M}{ART}

11 Stop indicator in pool lit by Spooner (5,5) BRAKE LIGHT (lake bright to brake light)

12 Season fertilizer changing Nitrogen's temperature (6) MATURE MA(-n+t)TURE

14 Gen Y girl moving cautiously (8) GINGERLY*

15 Hard to comprehend where curlers are placed (5,4,4) ABOVE ONES HEAD [C&DD]

18 Dangerous dacoit gaining time with Republican tyrant (8) DICTATOR {DACOIT+T}*{R} (Correction - {DACOIT}* over {T} with {R} - See comments)

20 In fact, his view's frequently intuitive (6) NATIVE {iN+fAcT+hIs+ViEw}

21 Work in Lahore or abroad in verbosity (10) LOGORRHOEA {GO} in {LAHORE+OR}*

22 Afghan carving a new course (4) PATH PATHan

23 Hollow spaces without frame for antenna, say (6) ?I?O?E (Addendum - DIPOLE {DIP}{hOLEs} - See comments})

24 Issued or kept confidential (8) SECRETED [DD]

DOWN

1   Managed to hold God of death back with an epic saga (8) RAMAYANA {R{YAMA<=}AN}{A}

2   Primarily nifty, elegant and tasteful! (4) NEAT Acrostic &lit

3   Permanent housing for nags (6) STABLE [DD]

4   Shows power supported by mature soldiers (8) PAGEANTS {P}{AGE}{ANTS}

5   Propose to build store e.g. outside barren location (4,6) GOBI DESERT {BID} in {STORE+EG}*

6   Deadly drug imported by permit with gangster (6) LETHAL {H} in {LET}{AL}

8   Gosh! Romancing casually in places where folks undress (8,5) CHANGING ROOMS*

13 Maverick University player turning party animal (10) UNORTHODOX {U}{NORTH}{DO<=}{OX}

16 Restaurants in great Erie street (8) EATERIES [T]

17 Aficionados in building voted to erect Church (8) DEVOTEES {VOTED*}{SEE<=}

19 Very famous Indian bank abruptly bored by working (6) ICONIC {IC{ON}ICi}

20 Trace sister at church touring America (6) NUANCE {NUN}{CE} over {A}

22 Announced petition for game (4) PREY (~pray)

Reference List

Director = D, Maiden = M, Temperature = T, Time = T, Republican = R, New = N, Power = P, Drug = H(Heroin), Gangster = AL(Capone), University = U, Player = NORTH, Church = SEE, Church = CE, America = A