No 14809, Tuesday 02 Jun 2026, Crossant

Solution to 8A 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

8   Better place found in search occasionally backfires (6) ?A?I?O  ()

9   Public gallery bombing kills girl, leader of youth to blame (8) CULPABLE {PUBliCgALLEry}*

10 What Vaibhav Sooryvanshi does is crazy (4) BATS [DD]

11 Letting in contaminated crude? No, no (10) ADMITTANCE ConTAMINATED*

12 That person gets a place at outskirts of Alps mountain range (9) HIMALAYAS {HIM}{A}{LAY}{AlpS}

14 Lecherous man, drunk, strays endlessly (5) SATYR STRAYs*

16 Finally confirming the rumour from source (4) GERM [Tail acrosic]

18 Reason criminal isn't brought in primarily (5) ALIBI {AL}{Isnt}{Br...t}{In} Semi&lit

19 Priest to work with European religious leader (4) POPE {P}{OP}{E}

21 Inability to coordinate movements of a transport vehicle for auditor (5) ATAXY {A}{(~taxi)TAXY}

23 Hospital in America getting business extremely regularly (9) INFIRMARY {IN}{FIRM}{A}{Re...lY}

26 About one cold heartless nurse melting, showing expression of sympathy (10) CONDOLENCE {C}{ON{COLD+NursE}*E}

28 Money anyway eventually becomes insignificant (4) TINY {TIN}{a...aY}

29 U.S. state beginning to lose goodwill, in trouble (8) CALAMITY {CA}{Lose}{AMITY}

30 Badly injured, Jack goes off devastated (6) RUINED INjURED*

DOWN

1   A date in Paris ending in love and bliss (8) PARADISE {PAR{A}{D}IS}{lovE}

2   Bit of sleep that is savoured throughout afternoon primarily (6) SIESTA {Sl..p}{IE}{Sa...d}{Th...t}{Af...n} &lit

3   Get upset with travel restrictions limiting all new arrivals basically (2,7) GO BANANAS {GO}{BAN{All}{New}{Ar...s}S}

4   Cheat lying about computers (4) SCAM<=

5   Reprimand son coming after scheduled time (5) SLATE {S}{LATE}

6   The French woman seducing men accepts a tip from leading light (4,4) LAVA LAMP {LA}{V{A}{Le...g}AMP}

7   Bold cover of Playboy amasses fortune (6) PLUCKY {Play{LUCK}boY}

13 Agree nearly everyone at home drinks? Good (5) ALIGN {ALl}{I{G}N}

15 People from Osaka maybe adopting one Japanese form of Buddhism, right? (9) CITIZENRY {CIT{1}{ZEN}{R}Y}

17 Gab could be both a gift and a curse perhaps (5,3) MIXED BAG {GAB}* [RA]

20 Was mother torn between father and elder daughter at first? (8) PARENTED {PA}{RENT}{El...r}{Da...r}

22 Norse God with hatchet cut trunk (6) THORAX {THOR}{AXe}

24 Revolutionary Marxist state's leader is off grid (6) MATRIX MARXIsT*

25 Flat in quiet, narrow street by the sound of it (5) PLAIN {P}{(~lane)LAIN}

27 Bill isn't passed when they have it (4) NAYS [CD]

Reference List

Criminal = AL(Capone), Priest = P, Work = OP, European = E, About = C, Money = TIN, Jack = J, Date = D, Son = S, The in French = LA, aAt home = IN< Good = G, Right = R, Quiet = P