No 14889, Thursday 03 Sep 2026, Saral

Solution to 18A 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.

ACROSS

7   Linger outside park leading one animal (6) WAPITI {WA{P}IT}{1}

8   Unionist against politician with international group for mediating (8) UMPIRING {U}{MP}{1}{RING}

9   Diplomat arranging mass abroad (10) AMBASSADOR*

10 Voice is regularly suppressed in fights (4) VIES {VoIcE+iS}

11 Plan of regime finally ousting Welsh in new reign possibly (8) ENGINEER {r...mE} in {NEw+REIGN}*

12 Sweet-sounding music for two including originally lovely contralto (6) DULCET {DU{Lo...y}{Co...o}ET}

13 One in French hotel caught with director actively stopping reel continuously (5,3,5) ROUND THE CLOCK {UN}{HOTEL+C+D}* in {ROCK}

16 Minister from new circle (6) CLERIC*

18 Reverend's double course rejected (5,3) R?L?D ?U? (Addendum - RULED OUT (-dual rout to ruled out) - See comments)

21 Delay report covering lecture essentially (4) STAY {S{lecTure}AY}

22 Rag this ordinary garden parties perhaps (10) PEDESTRIAN {PEDESTRIAN+RAG}*=GARDEN PARTIES [CA]

23 Old relative in favour of European support (8) FOREBEAR {FOR}{E}{BEAR}

24 Upset Republican bumping boxer's head in combat (6) RATTLE (+r-b)RATTLE

DOWN

1   Son to get cut nut for swimmer (6) SALMON {S}{ALMONd}

2   Note: Butter is used primarily in dessert (8) TIRAMISU {TI}{RAM}{IS}{Used}

3   Paper from government issued (6) TISSUE [T]

4   Irregular distribution of aid blocking yields in return (8) SPORADIC {AID}* in {CROPS<=}

5   Tour starts to take relatives around various enjoyable locations (6) TRAVEL Acrostic

6   King, born idiot giving reaction without thinking (4-4) KNEE-JERK {K}{NEE}{JERK}

8   Without being detected abused a thread run about the German (5,3,5) UNDER THE RADAR {A+THREAD+RUN}* over {DER}

13 Maybe sister in joy backing brother in the end (8) RELATION {ELATION}<=>{b...eR}

14 Crack and lit heroin piece inhaled by doctor (8) DECIPHER {H+PIECE}* in {DR}

15 Tough to persuade bud sadly controlled by old judge (8) OBDURATE {O}{BUD*}{RATE}

17 Verses in religious education listing chants ignoring number (6) RHYMES {RE} over {HYMnS} How does E go in?

17 Verses basically rehearsed by English soprano after short chant (6) RHYMES {Re...d} and {E}{S}<=>{HYMn} - Clue edited based on request from Saral.

19 Again chase passion and shine (6) LUSTRE {RE}<=>{LUST}

20 Working in underpass initially dark (6) USABLE {Un...s}{SABLE}

Reference List

Park = P, Unionist = U, International = I, Welsh = W, One in French = UN, Caught = C, Director = D, European = E, Republican = R, Son = S, Note = TI, King = K, Born = NEE, The in German = DER, Heroin = H, Old = O, Religious education = RE, Number = N, English = E, Soprano = S, Again = RE