Friday, 3 July 2026

No 14836, Friday 03 Jul 2026, Crossant

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ACROSS
1   Weak Queen refused to fast after start of summer (6) SICKLY {quICKLY}<=>{Su...r}
4   Warning boy to leave nasty, immoral habit (6) ADVICE {bAD}{VICE}
8   Mounting covert police operation to nab foreigner (7) SETTING {S{ET}TING}
9   Delighted when entering sanctuary in outskirts of Palakkad (7) PLEASED {LE{AS}E} in {Pa...aD}
11 Nicely go around flashing a new Tesla (10) PLEASANTLY {PL{A+N+TESLA}*Y}
12 Bird starting late gets worm? (4) INCH fINCH
13 Further education lags in that respect (5) THERE [T]
14 U.S. never bothered about India and the world (8) UNIVERSE {US+NEVER}* over {I}
16 Maybe Vasco da Gama from Portugal learning routes in the beginning (8) EXPLORER {EX}{P}{LORE}{Ro...s}
18 Military vehicles and tense, faceless rows of soldiers (5) TANKS {T}{rANKS}
20 Follow hooligan cycling around entrance of estate (4) OBEY {(-y)OB(+y)Y} over {Es...e}
21 In fact, session at home is fixed (10) DETERMINED {DE{TERM}{IN}ED}
23 Boy working hard without accomplishment ultimately gets extremely angry (7) BOILING {B}{tOILING}
24 What bowlers do when de Villiers bats - won't have slip mostly (7) DELIVER {DE+VillLIERs}*
25 Makes pens out of unhealthy styrene primarily (6) STYLES STYLusES
26 About to exit central building, understood? (6) LEARNT cENTRAL*

DOWN
1   Is finally all right? Great. (5) SWELL {iS}{WELL}
2   Bit of cream soup (no piece of potato) and cheese maybe (7) COTTAGE {Cr..m}{pOTTAGE}
3   Listen, leaders of national eminence lost and are angry (4,2,3) LEND AN EAR {Na...l+Em...e+Lost+AND+ARE}*
5   Lloyd botched an easy catch (5) DOLLY*
6   Judge one with a drink in Middle East (7) IMAGINE {1}{M{A}{GIN}E}
7   Implements tariffs restricting export revenues in the beginning (9) EXERCISES {EX{Ex...t}{Re...s}CISES}
10 Say most regressive, senseless last words perhaps (2,2,5) ET TU BRUTE {UTTEr<=}{BRUTE}
13 Revolutionary took best, essentially Marxist reading material (9) TEXTBOOKS* {TOOK+BEST+marXist}*
15 Check and re-enter if wrong (9) INTERFERE*
17 King and Queen maybe switching sides and allegiance (7) LOYALTY (-r+l)LOYALTY
19 More curious about India becoming rowdier (7) NOISIER {NO{I}SIER}
21 Slow person needs backing from time to time (5) DENSE {pErSoN+nEeDs}<=
22 Equalise at the end of tight game (5) EVENT {EVEN}{t..hT}

Reference List
Queen = QU, Boy = B, Foreigner = ET, New = N, India = I, Portugal = P, Tense = T, About = C, Sides = R,L

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52 comments:

  1. Mandagondi Naresh3 July 2026 at 07:06

    22D, Event=game(def.)
    Equalise=even+t(at the end of tight...T)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mandagondi Naresh3 July 2026 at 07:13

    1A, sickly=weak(def.)
    after start of summer=s(summer)+ick(refused to fast)+ ly(queen=Lady)
    sickly

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mandagondi Naresh3 July 2026 at 07:22

    12A, Inch=worm(def.)
    Bird=Finch(_F) is Inch, inch worm.
    Bird starting late means (-F inch)
    Bird starting late gets worm , we know is an Idiom.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mandagondi Naresh3 July 2026 at 07:33

    13A, There= In that respect
    FurTHER Education
    There
    clue: T

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mandagondi Naresh3 July 2026 at 07:39

    6D, Imagine=judge(def)
    Drink=gin, Middle East=M E, One=I , A
    so, [I+ M( a)+(gin)E]
    Insertion clue
    Imagine

    ReplyDelete
  6. Murali3 July 2026 at 07:55

    14A UNIVERSE - world. I in (US never)*

    ReplyDelete
  7. Murali3 July 2026 at 08:03

    13D TEXTBOOKS ,- reading material.
    (took best x)*. (marXist)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shay3 July 2026 at 08:16

    3D - LEND AN EAR - Listen; (N)ational (E)minence {AND ARE}* anagrid - angry
    5D - DOLLY - an easy catch; {Lloyd}* anagrid - botched

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shay3 July 2026 at 09:37

      15D -INTERFERE - Check; {re-enter if}* anagrid - wrong
      18A - TANKS - Military vehicles; (T)ense rows of soldiers - RANKS-R; faceless means delete the first word; T+ANKS

      Delete
    2. Shay3 July 2026 at 09:41

      9A - PLEASED - Delighted; PallakaD (outskirts are P…D); sanctuary - Lease;
      Entering lease between P and D making P(lease)D

      Delete
  9. Padmanabhan3 July 2026 at 09:11

    Great surfaces Ananth!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mandagondi Naresh3 July 2026 at 09:36

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan3 July 2026 at 09:39

    18 A
    Military vehicles = TANKS
    Tense = T
    Rows of soldiers = Ranks
    Faceless = Deletionindicator for first letter " Are " of " ranks "
    T ANKS = TANKS

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan3 July 2026 at 09:43

    20 A
    Follow = OBEY
    Hooligan = BOY
    Cycling of BOY = OBY
    Estate = E
    Around = Containment indicator
    OB ( E ) Y = OBEY

    ReplyDelete
  13. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan3 July 2026 at 09:47

    24 A
    What bowlers do = DELIVER
    Slip ( mostly ) = sli
    Won't have = Deletion indicator
    de Villiers- sli = DEVILER
    Bats = Anagrind
    DEVILER = DELIVER

    ReplyDelete
  14. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan3 July 2026 at 09:52

    26 A
    Understood = LEARNT
    About = C
    To exit = Deletion indicator for " C "
    Central - C = ENTRAL
    Building = Anagrind
    ENTRAL = LEARNT

    ReplyDelete
  15. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan3 July 2026 at 09:59

    17 D
    Allegiance = LOYALTY
    King and Queen = ROYALTY
    Sides = L , R ( Left , Right )
    Changing sides = L changed to R / R changed to L
    ROYALTY = LOYALTY

    ReplyDelete
  16. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan3 July 2026 at 10:04

    In lieu of 18 A

    19 D
    Roadies = NOISIER
    More curious = NOSIER
    India = I
    About = Containment indicator
    NO ( I ) SIER = NOISIER

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ananda Rao Keerty3 July 2026 at 10:14

    5.dn.Dolly. Easy catch ( Lloyd is botched )
    15.dn.Interfere. rearranging letters from 're-enter if'
    19.dn. Noisier. Nosier (more curious) + I(ndia).
    22.dn.Event (=game). Even(equalise) + t (end of tight)
    17. Loyalty. Royalty (King and Queen).Replace 'R' with 'L' (switching sides)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sekar3 July 2026 at 10:26

    21a: determined = fixed.
    Fact - deed, session - term and home -in.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sekar3 July 2026 at 10:32

    4a: advice = warning.
    Nasty - (B)ad, immoral habit - vice.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Devi Prasad3 July 2026 at 11:00

    16A:explorer=Vasco da Gama
    from(ex) Portugal(p) learning(lore)
    routes in the beginning(r)
    (ex)(p)(lore)(r)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Remy3 July 2026 at 11:01

    10 s et tu brute-famous last words
    say-utter-r< senseless-brute

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jacob Brahmakulam3 July 2026 at 11:15

    11a PLEASANTLY; nicely; go = PLY around (A N TELSA)*

    ReplyDelete
  23. Padmanabhan3 July 2026 at 11:31

    8A- Setting- Mounting- S(ET)TING
    Covert police operation- Sting, Foreigner- ET

    ReplyDelete
  24. N Sridhar3 July 2026 at 11:49

    25A-styles=makes; pens=styluses-u-s

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath3 July 2026 at 12:10

      Pleas explain where the -u and -s comes from

      Delete
    2. N Sridhar3 July 2026 at 12:38

      pens -(out of) Unhealthy, Styrene- primarily

      Delete
  25. Mukundala Balasubramanyam3 July 2026 at 11:52

    7D : EXERCISES. (EX(ER)CISES)
    Tariffs : EXCISES
    Restricting : Container ind
    Export Revenues in the beginning : ER
    Defn : Implements

    ReplyDelete
  26. gowri3 July 2026 at 11:57

    1dn: SWELL means Great (def)
    Is finally gives S
    All right gives WELL

    ReplyDelete
  27. Dr ENT3 July 2026 at 12:01

    1D swell= great
    S from i(s) finally
    All right=well.
    2D cheese =cottage.
    Bit of c(ream) with (p)ottage(soup) -p(otato)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Deepak Gopinath3 July 2026 at 12:22

    Yet to be solved
    Across - 1(Annotation only), 23
    Down - 21

    ReplyDelete
  29. Sathia3 July 2026 at 12:40

    23A: extremely Angry = Boiling
    Working hard is toiling
    Without accompaniment ultimately (-t)
    (+b) gets is insertion indicator
    Hence, ((-t)(+b) oiling))
    Sathia

    ReplyDelete
  30. Kishan3 July 2026 at 12:55

    21D DENSE-slow; pErSoN nEeDs backing <=

    ReplyDelete
  31. Kishan3 July 2026 at 12:58

    1A SICKLY-weak; {S}ummer, fast qu{ICKLY};

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sree Sree3 July 2026 at 13:05

      "to" (with refused, it needs something like to take part) in the clue is a bit complicated.
      Queen called off fast would have been better.

      Delete
    2. N Anantakrishnan3 July 2026 at 15:33

      Hi. If something is refused to someone then the person does not have what has been refused. The deletion indicator has been used in that sense.

      Delete
  32. H Ramachandran3 July 2026 at 14:04

    23a BOILING. - Extremely angry
    B(boy)+OILING
    (- t)OILING - working hard
    Without accomplishment finally Del ind fir T

    ReplyDelete

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