No 14713, Tuesday 10 Feb 2026, Karaoke

Solution to 23A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered 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

1   Appeal to umpire by Zimbabwe rejected after outlandish oath outside (6) HOWZAT {HO{ZW<=}AT*}

4   Contents removed from nightshirt following a day in satellite (8) ADHERENT {Ni...rT}<=>{A}D}{HERE}

9   The Apostles perhaps in between solvers' hearts (6) TWELVE {beTWEen}{soLVErs}

10 This animal in the room, you would not like to talk about difficult situation (8) ELEPHANT [C&DD]

12 Eternity, free-for-all (8) ENTIRETY*

13 Shots in the arm to the Devil, mostly by saint (6) TONICS {TO}{NICk}{S}

15 Fine clue, bottom to top (4) THIN (+t)THIN(-t)

17 Sink in latrine, fit to be destroyed (10) INFILTRATE*

19 Cooking appliance in resort is defective and extremely inaccurate (10) ROTISSERIE {RESORT+IS}*{In...tE}

20 Small rodent inside treasure, it may spread disease (4) GERM {GE{Ro...t}M}

23 Something wrong with a very troublesome child? (6) T?R?O? 

24 Never compose music outright without expertise initially (3,2,3) NOT AT ALL {NOTATe}{ALL}

27 It's the character of Indian setter to get energy by force (8) IDEOGRAM {I}{D{E}OG}{RAM}

28 Rogue conceals degree in suitcase (3,3) BAD EGG {BA{DEG}G}

29 Comedians possibly cracked satires about model (8) ARTISTES {ARTIS{T}ES*}

30 I am told to get permission for skirt (6) BYPASS (~buy pass)

DOWN

1   Stolen base? Criminals may end up here (3,4) HOT SEAT {HOT}{SEAT}

2   Take away by force from others, according to reports (5) WREST (~rest)

3   Loudly say state recruits director on board basically (6) ADVERB {A{D}VER}{Bo..d}

5   Shop's key with setter (4) DELI {DEL}{I}

6   Makes use of old pistol in rebellion (8) EXPLOITS {EX}{PISTOL*}

7   Kill time with girlfriend eating ice cream mainly (9) ERADICATE {ERA}{D{Ice}{Cr..m}ATE}

8   How much salt you add for a pleasing result? (2,5) TO TASTE [CD]

11 Vocalist hugs model in cocktail (7) STINGER {S{T}INGER}

14 Potentially AI is no ultimate tool for working relationship (7) LIAISON {AI+IS+NO+tooL}*

16 Meet veteran heartily participating in cricket? (9) INTERSECT {IN{veTERan}SECT}

18 Provided exorbitant loans? Boastful talk (2,4,2) AS LONG AS {LOANS*}{GAS}

19 Wine container unopened and returned (7) RETSINA cANISTER<=

21 Blasphemes representation of lingams (7) MALIGNS*

22 Celebration with semi-sexy stars (6) GALAXY {GALA}{seXY}

25 Primarily athletes regularly entertain nail-biting audience here (5) ARENA Acrostic Semi&lit

26 Topless pair in competition (4) RACE bRACE

Reference List

Day = D, Saint = S, Indian = I, Setter = DOG, Energy = E, Model = T, Director = D, Key = DEL, Old = EX