No 14743, Tuesday 17 Mar 2026, Pixie Dust

Have an early morning drive, so leaving the CW for the regulars. Will update the post later in the evening.

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)

ACROSS

1   Diplomatic organisation's mainly political acknowledgement, brief & empty (6) UNPACK {UN}{Po...l}{ACK}

5   Gossip about satisfactory sex, (ultimate fantasy!) and celibacy (8) CHASTITY {CHA{S}T}{IT}{f...sY}  

9   Reverend's not pleased at first, to admit Switzerland's sailing vessel (8) SCHOONER {SpOONER} over {CH}

10 Picked up rows, few and far between (6) SPARSE (~spars)

11 Imperious dad in Paris, meets conservative member of parliament going ahead (10) PEREMPTORY {PERE}{TORY}<=>{MP}

12 Yes, cycled around park, See! (4) ESPY {(+y)YES(+y)Y} over {P}

13 My one emergency fund? (3,5) MAD MONEY {MY+ONE}* [RA]

16 Finally locked abusive chef, without official delay, skilfully (6) DEFTLY Tail Acrotic

17 Try solid, clipped font (6) GOTHIC {GO}{THICk}

19 Pipes too can be different (8) OPPOSITE*

21 Grave stand to begin with, bishop is extremely righteous? (4) BIER Acrostic

22 Busybody's late - frequently picked on? (10) TATTLETALE Letterbank

25 Analyse speed of light and unit of distance (6) PARSEC {PARSE}{C}

26 Sea captain spends energy and prime resources for a tall pole that supports the sails (8) MAINMAST {MAIN}{MASTer}

27 On vacation referee is back with double net (8) RESIDUAL {Re...rE}{IS<=}{DUAL}

28 Tempestuous stud smuggles gold for members of a royal family (6) TUDORS {STUD}* over {OR}

DOWN

2   Mother of Pearl, adventurer (Canadian) carried from the south (5) NACRE [T<=]

3   Make up for amateur kicking small rock (5) ATONE {A}{sTONE}

4   Spooner orders: "Call Uncle Boss!" (7) KINGPIN (~ping kin to kingpin)

5   Swear endlessly or begin to yell, it's unmindful (7) CURSORY {CURSe}{OR}{Yell}

6   Surveyed a small state, extremely excluded (7) ASSAYED {A}{S}{SAY}{Ex...eD}

7   Sad effort deployed to reach some kind of compromises (5-4) TRADE-OFFS*

8   Should this flier indiscriminately hold up stilettos? (4,5) TEST PILOT {TEST+PILOT+SHOULD}*=HOLD UP STILETTOS [CA]

14 A magic toe developed these days? (6,3) ATOMIC AGE*

15 Overly theatrical actor upset with a former Prime Minister's mentor (9) MAHARISHI {HAM<=}{A}{RISHI}

18 Loosely cut each food additive (7) CATECHU 

19 Perfect gem capturing endless era (7) OPTIMAL {OP{TIMe}AL}

20 Principal mistakenly protects one who works hand-in-hand with customer (7) PALMIST [T]

23 Modest statement:"I'm idealistic to a large extent (5) TIMID [T]

24 Underdog's not the first person wrapping up deal successfully (5) LOSER cLOSER

Reference List

Satisfactory = S, Sex = IT, Switzerland = CH, Dad in French = PERE, Conservative = TORY, Park = P, Speed of light = C, Energy = E, Gold = OR, Amateur = A, Small = S