No 14087, Friday 02 Feb 2024, Arden

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

All those who are not regular commenters but who are rookie commenters or silent followers of the blog are requested to post answers with annotations in the comments section. In your own interest please avoid looking up the answers from the interactive version. Don't hesitate to post your annotations, in case you make a mistake in the annotation someone will correct it with the right annotation.

PLEASE NOTE, SOLUTIONS WITHOUT ATTEMPTING THE ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED

Each commenter is requested to post only 5 answers thereby giving others also a chance to participate. Please provide all your answers in one comment.

Regular solvers/Veterans can post 1 answer each, but after 11 AM only.

Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS

1   United States Democrat briefly had become a recluse (6) SADDHU {US+De...t+HAD}*

4   Male singer, to survive eats fixed ration (8) BARITONE {B{RATION*}E}

10 Bar exit on both sides, it means drunk can enter (9) ESTAMINET {ExiT} over {IT+MEANS}*

11 Filthy lucre makes one heartless (5) CRUEL*

12 Agreement with leading college on line... (7) CONCORD {Co...e}{ON}{CORD}

13 ...seconds later he ran out of control (7) HARNESS {SS}+{HE+RAN}*

14 Reversing a game, next some of them will give you the runs (5) ENEMA [T<=]

15 "with steam it's working!"- give a false account... (8) MISSTATE*

18 ...later in some part of the world there is lack of energy (8) ASTHENIA {AS{THEN}IA}

20 Dance to odd, not even beat (5) RUMBA {RUM}{BeAt}

23 While in Bangalore, leisurely she used to sing (7) LORELEI*

25 During war Damascus evacuated, facing the centre (7) INWARDS {IN}{WARD}{Da...uS}

26 Fill contents in, but it has to be erected (5) BUILT {BU{fILl}T}

27 Necessarily want completely at the back (9) NEEDFULLY {NEED}{FULLY}

28 Greek Aristocrat getting refuge finally in French city (8) GRENOBLE {GR}{NOBLE} over {r...gE}

29 In test, a tussle to get a rank (6) STATUS [T]

DOWN

1   Draws small boats (8) SKETCHES {S}{KETCHES}

2   Dog breed essentially to maintain peace (7) DETENTE {DETENT}{brEed}

3   Nothing comes in - in way of a healer (9) HOMEOPATH {HOME}{O}{PATH}

5   "Against his order", it means these drugs will fight allergies (14) ANTIHISTAMINES {ANTI}{HIS}{IT+MEANS}*

6   Pay for keeping dog behind home (5) INCUR {CUR}<=>{IN}

7   "Not possible to stop the whimper" - that's rich! (7) OPULENT {{O{PULE}NT*}

8   Sign up for silent shot (6) ENLIST*

9   Misplaced idealism, no one accepts new line, perhaps (3-11) ONE-DIMENSIONAL {IDEALISM+NO+ONE}* over {N}

16 Became very angry to see criminal art thief drinking whisky (5,1,3) THREW A FIT {ART+THIEF}* over {W}

17 It's a kind of shirt, in case OK, will shine in the dark (4,4) CATS EYES {CA{T}SE}{YES}

19 Starters salami and Ravioli, later eat fish (7) SARDINE {Sa...i}{And}{Ra...i}{DINE}

21 Arm twisting and conspiracy, he will spoil everything (7) MARPLOT {ARM*}{PLOT}

22 Go bald, perhaps a ugly woman (3,3) OLD BAG*

24 Abandon final project, construction in bits and pieces all around (3,2) LET GO {p...cT} in {LEGO}

Reference List

Second = S, Greek = GR, Small = S, In = HOME, New = N, Whisky = W, Kind of shirt = T

No 14086, Thursday 01 Feb 2024, Arden

Solution to 24D 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

9   One-third of Australia, not hard in there, but plain and simple (7) AUSTERE {AUSt...a}{ThERE}

10 Complete work before day's end - there is aversion (7) ALLERGY {ALL}{ERG}{daY}

11 Old money small child, play outside (7) DRACHMA {DRA{CH}MA}

12 Cry to get fat (7) BLUBBER [DD]

13 Really easy to carry, I'm happy (9) DELIGHTED {LIGHT}{(in)DEED}

15 Huge number involved in ordinary game (5) BINGO {BI{N}G}{O}

16 French noble with six trillion income (7) VICOMTE {VI}{COM{T}E} T for Trillion? See comments

19 Opposing America right and left in discharge remaining (7) SURPLUS {US<=}{R}{P{L}US}

20 Small fireplace providing warmth (5) HEART HEARTh

21 Oft-repeated jokes about Tesla head taking part in a game (9) CHESTNUTS {CHES{T}{NUT}S

25 Small state faces a communist resurgence and depression (7) CALDERA {CAL} and {A}{RED}<=

26 State of one in our country (7) INDIANA {INDI{AN}A}

28 Omitting without writing a portion (7) EXCERPT {EXCE{R}PT}

29 Behind schedule on payment (7) OVERDUE {DUE}<=>{OVER} &lit

DOWN

1   The American did not arrest Frank (6) CANDID [T]

2   Condemn a small public sector undertaking (6) ASSAIL {A}{S}{SAIL}

3   Coordinate with me quietly (4) MESH {ME}{SH}

4   Inhabitant - the wine drinking one (6) TENANT {TEN{AN}T}

5   Insults a party in an island nation (8) BARBADOS {BARB{A}{DO}S}

6   Could it be a sudden deluge? (10) CLOUDBURST {COULD}* [RA]

7   Something to eat during hearing in court (8) TRIBUNAL {TRI{BUN}AL}

8   A small picture - moving story about people on a small island (8) CYPRIOTS {PIC+STORY}*

14 Mathematicians' idea of play, they have a choice (4,6) GAME THEORY {GAME}{THE{OR}Y}

16 He lives miserably caught in between buses and trucks (8) VEHICLES {HE+LIVES}* over {C}

17 Wild mustard found daily on top of hair (8) CHARLOCK {CHAR}{LOCK}

18 Terrible stench as one blocks entrances (8) ENCHANTS {ENCH{AN}TS*}

22 He invented the first device to stop random noise (6) EDISON {E{De...e}ISON*}

23 Drug and alcohol stashed in this place (6) UGANDA [T]

24 Caught when part of it was new, went up when part of it was old (6) S?A?E? (Addendum - SNARED S(-o+n)NARED - See comments)

27 Contract work (4) DEED [DD]

Reference List

Hard = H, Child = CH, Number = N, Ordinary = O, Tesla = T, Writing = R, Small = S, Quietly = SH, Party = DO, Caught = C, New = N, Old = O