No 14519, Tuesday 24 Jun 2025, Hypatia

FOR ATTENTION OF ALL VISITORS TO THE BLOG

I am reopening the blog so that anyone can access it, however from 7AM on Friday 27 Jun onwards, I will again be restricting access to the blog permanently and only custom readers will be able to access the blog. 

Those who want access to the blog as custom readers may therefore send me an e-mail at deepakgita@gmail.com and I will approve the same. Those who have already done so need not do so again.

I have been forced to change the settings as one person refused to adhere to the rules of the blog despite being advised on many occasions. Once the blog is restricted to custom readers as it was for the past 3 days, I will have the administrative power to remove anyone who does not follow the rules.

Solution to 5A 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 solve, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

1   Rat forcing cat to run (8) TURNCOAT*

5   Free delivery (6) ?E?C?E (Addendum - RESCUE [DD?] - See comments)

10 Little daughter at hospital ward nursed by mother (7) MODICUM {MO{D}{ICU}M}

11 Hypatia's books collected by cool Egyptian architect (7) IMHOTEP {I'M}{H{OT}EP}

12 Enthroned, Middle Eastern, elite ruler principally (5) EMEER &lit

13 Irregular sleep delayed husband ultimately snuggling close to you (9) NODULATED {NOD}{LATE}{h...nD} over {yoU}

14 Transfer result about unit in plant's output (7,5) PASSION FRUIT {PASS ON}{FRUIT} over {1}

18 British queens embrace new church avoiding mass exercises (5,7) BENCH PRESSES {B}{Em{N}{CH}PRESSES}

21 Strong green tea initially mixed with ice (9) ENERGETIC {GREEN+Tea+ICE}*

23 Ibexes breathing hard for oxygen in mountain passes (5) GHATS {G(-o+h)HATS}

24 Escalating tension? (7) VERTIGO [CD]

25 Cheerful or insecure self-confession (7) AMIABLE {AM I ABLE}

26 Gaining admission in US, a lad soon leaves (6) SALADS [T]

27 Indians and Belgians abroad (8) BENGALIS*

DOWN

1   Periodically the PM appears in bad mood (6) TEMPER {ThE+pM+aPpEaRs}

2   Require vacating judge to acquit (6) REDEEM {Re...rE}{DEEM}

3   Bug Spooner's music tutor (9) COCKROACH (~rock coach to cockroach)

4   Direction Bond gives regularly: "A martini isn't stirred" (14) ADMINISTRATION {bOnD+A+MARTINI+ISNT}*

6   They lit lamps initially in compound (5) ETHYL {THEY}*{La..s}

7   Life-size hoarding tackling sex - "Don't do that!" (3,2,3) CUT IT OUT {CUT OUT} over {IT}

8   Speed up former training with fresh diet (8) EXPEDITE {EX}{PE}{DIET*}

9   Choose as e.g., any futile pursuit (4,5,5) WILD GOOSE CHASE {CHOOSE+AS+EG}* [RA]

15 Young bird finally catching fish quickly took flight sitting above (9) FLEDGING {birD}{LING}<=>{FLED} (Correction {c...nG}{LING}<=>{FLED} - See comments)

16 Sees hint from SEBI over BSE reforms (8) OBSERVES {Sebi+OVER+BSE}*

17 Liberal Government's reliant as a whole (8) INTEGRAL {G+RELIANT}*

19 Play Game Boy endlessly reaching ultimate level (6) GAMBOL {GAMe}{BOy}{l..eL}

20 Flowers outlast erstwhile shows (6) ASTERS [T]

22 Champ's name in part of a crossword (5) GRIND {GRI{N}D}

Reference List

Daughter = D, Books = OT(Old Testament), Cool = HEP, British = B, New = N, Church = CH, Mass = M, Hard = H, Sex = IT, Training = PE, Government = G, Name = N

No 14518, Monday 23 Jun 2025, Hypatia

Solution to 10A 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 solve, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

7   Modern AI trial unit's practical (11) UTILITARIAN*

8   Socialise after captain of Mumbai team retired (3) MIX {Mu...i}{XI<=}

10 Bragged in party (4) ?R?W (Addendum - CREW [DD] - See comments)

11 Middle Easterners re-building Basra (5) ARABS*

12 Attacks fools (4) MUGS [DD]

13 River Seine, extremely hot earlier to bathe (5) RINSE {R}{SeinE}<=>{IN}

15 Fancy clothes in wash - rest mostly dirty (9) SHERWANIS {IN+WAS+RESt}*

16 Invites him later to tour capital city (6) SHIMLA [T]

18 Colourful bird or two on air before May (6) TOUCAN {(~two)TOU}{CAN}

21 A rich child's booster seat (4-5) HIGH-CHAIR {A+RICH}* [RA]

23 Leaders of huge empires inheriting remarkable status! (5) HEIRS Acrostic Semi&lit

25 Women passing through never sent back in Sabarimala, say (4) TOWN {N{W}OT<=} Sabarimala is a hill and not a town

26 Perfect old performance (5) EXACT {EX}{ACT}

27 Incomplete cipher requiring a final part (4) CODA {CODe}{A}

28 Oddly join with girl to dance (3) JIG {JoIn}{G}

29 Reserved match, pointed Spooner (5-6) TIGHT-LIPPED (~light tipped to tight-lipped)

DOWN

1   Sea creature's prominent angle (8) STARFISH {STAR}{FISH}

2   Reflection of animal in stream (4) FLOW<=

3   Ultimately unfinished country album? (5) ATLAS {AT LASt}

4   Infuse exotic herb tea (7) BREATHE*

5   Language without writing tools, pens (8) SANSKRIT {SANS}{K{R}IT}

6   Antelope seen in his log cabin regularly (6) NILGAI {iN+hIs+LoG+cAbIn}

9   Young author's unpopular, discontented, boring friend (8) IMMATURE {I'M}{MAT{Un...aR}E}

14 Recalled why no HP mystery features a musical composition (8) SYMPHONY [T<=]

17 Allow sharing chat - one unusually active (8) ATHLETIC {LET} in {CHAT+1}*

19 A newly wed daughter securing ghunghat initially clipped (8) ABRIDGED {A}{BRID{Gh...t}E}{D}

20 Basic test about state leading to arrest killer (7) PIRANHA {P{IRAN}H}{Ar...t}

22 Working in ICICI? Most famous! (6) ICONIC {IC{ON}ICi}

24 Looted from shop changing hands (5) STOLE STO(-r+l)LE

27 Initially cut or paste your transcript (4) COPY Acrostic 

Reference List

Hot = IN, Women = W, Girl = G, Writing = R, Basic test = Ph