No 14759, Saturday 04 Apr 2026, Afterdark

 ACROSS
1 Leaking doctor's intellectual property disheartened personally (6) DRIPPY {DR}{IP}{PersonallY}
4 Quarterfinals always leads to a medical condition (1,5) Q FEVER {QF}{EVER}
9 Heads from Gulf Union fear foreign baloney (4) GUFF [Acrostic]
10 Say forest transport's wild bison and buckram essentially (6,4) CARBON SINK {CAR}{BISON*}{aNd}{bucKram} See comments 
11 Miser investing a lot in business (6) CHEAPO {C{HEAP}O}
12 Secret cult loses leader, English Prior's powerless (8) ULTERIOR {cULT}{E}{pRIOR}
13 Type of pistol to ignore; rumoured to lack iron-sight primarily (4-5) SNUB-NOSED {SNUB}{NOiSED}
15 Reform people in a dungeon at first (5) AMEND {A}{MEN}{Dungeon}
16 A soft calcite found in Switzerland and Albania by knight (5) CHALK {CH}{AL}{K}
18 Say, Rajinikanth is fan magnet, appearing in papers every second (5,4) STAGE NAME {MAGNET pApErS}*
22 Slow single male worker passes assignments essentially (8) STAGNANT {STAG}{assigNments}{ANT}
23 Duckett legally blocked a container (6) KETTLE [T]

25 Something preceding it may concern (10) WHOMSOEVER [CD]
26 Persuade to live at the outskirts of Nadiad (4) BEND {BE}{NadiaD}
27 Would he be testing for poison taking egg out of kitchen equipment (6) TASTER {ToASTER}
28 Fly with El Salvador head (6) ESCAPE {ES}{CAPE}

DOWN
1 French heir unpaid in revolution, cross heart (7) DAUPHIN {UNPAID}* over {H}
2 Train Frank to hide below (5) INFRA [T]
3 Pass to enter good company with instrument (7) PICCOLO {PI}{C{COL}O}

5 Hostile France meets East Germany on the fourth of July (6) FROSTY {FR}{OST}{julY}
6 My servant becomes a church official (9) VESTRYMAN* 
7 One day in conflict and confrontation ultimately leads to poor health (3-4) RUN DOWN {R{UN D}OW}{confrontatioN}
8 Belligerent martinet with vague manoeuvres (13) ARGUMENTATIVE*
14 Tennis, Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Soccer, etc (4,5) BALL GAMES [Easy]
17 Warm, square, intense and highly successful (7) HOT SHOT {HOT}{S}{HOT}
19 Games for American children with fine arts after final briefing (2-5) GO KARTS {OK}{ARTS}<=>{briefinG}

20 Collection at Indian festival no good, cheap essentially (7) MELANGE {MELA}{NG}{chEap}
21 Mislead auditor by removing core of unit (6) CAJOLE {CA}{JOuLE}
24 A little setback, one crack in the middle bone (5) TIBIA {A {I}BIT}<

REFERENCE LIST

Doctor=Dr., Intellectual Property=IP, Quarterfinals=QF, Business=CO, English=E, Power=P, Switzerland=CH, Albania=Al, Knight=K, Egg=0=O, Heart=H, East German=Ost, One=Un (in French), Day=D, Square=S, No good=NG.