No 14820, Monday 15 June 2026, Afterdark

 Solution to 27 A 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 answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

Standing-in for Colonel today.

ACROSS

1 Assume that a piano expert's press release is having one worried (11) APPROPRIATE {A}{P}{PRO}{PR}{I}{ATE}

9 It's tricky to contain West Indies with force on time quickly (7) SWIFTLY {S{WI}{F}{T}LY}

10 Tails of rhinoceros, cheetah, impala, lizard, kangaroo, cow, hippopotamus are tails (7) SHADOWS [Tail Acrostic]

11 Man wearing hat is shoddy (5) CHEAP {C{HE}AP}

12 Collected grant? Heard wrongly outside(9) HARVESTED {VEST} inside {HEARD}*

13 One having primarily rugged muscles, horses perhaps (5) ARABS {A}{Rugged}{ABS}

15 Report on plight faced by people with temperature (9) STATEMENT {STATE}{MEN}{T}

18 Old tax I have is too much (9) EXCESSIVE {EX}{CESS}{I'VE}

21 From the time the French seceded, its quiet (5) SINCE {SIleNCE}

22 Don angrily poses for reforms first (9) PROFESSOR {POSES FOR Reforms}*

24 Kisses Nora, Erica, Carol, Kate, Susan on the heads (5) NECKS {Acrostic]

26 Stage of surgeon! (7) THEATRE [CD]

27 Say, Ivy was 151 metres last year-end (7) C?I?B?R CLIMBER {CLI}{M}{BE}{yeaR} See comments

28 Country handles rent haphazardly(11) NETHERLANDS*

DOWN

1 Partner's a saint, hence spies cantered essentially (9) ASSOCIATE {A}{S}{SO}{CIA}{canTEred}

2 Prince's journey gave satisfaction (5) PRIDE {P}{RIDE}

3 Say, MNCs upset COO terribly on Saturday (9) OCTOPUSES {UPSET COO}*{S}

4 Beats HR myths extraordinarily (7) RHYTHMS*

5 Playing sitar at one university in European country (7) AUSTRIA {SITAR}* <=> {A}{U}

6 Searches area covering from south to north for excise (5) ERASE [T<]

7 Relating to a direction, the Royal Navy follows shogun intermittently (8) SOUTHERN {THE}{RN}<=>{ShOgU}

8 Second-hand bus Edward secured (4) USED [T]

14 Tied up with a routine overnight and essentially intense day (8) ANCHORED {A}{N}{CHORE}{D} "Essentially intense" superfluous

16 Principal with teens sail at sea (9) ESSENTIAL*

17 Heartless trader promises to detain apprentice ultimately and release son for money (9) TREASURES {TradeR}{apprenticE}{ASsURES}

19 Audit in school, physical education coach initially faces tempo (7) INSPECT {IN}{S}{PE}{Coach}{T}

20 Painful condition is clear, AC here is suffocating (7) EARACHE [T]

22 First person at say, Pondicherry collecting cess at the end for Lays (4) PUTS {Person}{UT}{cesS}

23 Had hybrid tea (Earl) with some nougats (5) EATEN {TEA}*{E}{Nougats}

25 Ministers expel stranger out of room (5) CABIN {CABINet}

Reference List

Piano=P, Press Release=PR, One=I, West Indies=WI, Force=F, Time=T, Man=He, Temperature=T, The French=Le, 151=CLI, Metres=M, Saint=S, Prince=P, Saturday=S, Royal Navy=RN, Night=N, Day=D, Son=S, School=S, Physical Education=PE, Tempo=T, Earl=E, Stranger=ET(Extra-Terrestrial).