No 14605, Saturday 04 October 2025, Avtaar

 ACROSS
1 Mom visiting homes for lotus flowers to be used in pooja (6) PADMAS {PAD{MA}S}

5 Most uncouth bums lying in bed (8) COARSEST {CO{ARSES}T}
9 John and Avtaar carrying bread for Turkish boss bosses (8) CAPITANI {CA{PITA}N}{I} Didn't find it on-line but BRB has it. See comments.
10 Held in deposit after return by writer (4-2) PENT-UP {PUT<}<=>{PEN}
11 Singing legend, (not a Rastafarian), performed captivating "New York", at the end (5,7) FRANK SINATRA {RASTAFARIaN}* over {N}{yorK}

13 Revolutionary upset a royal (4) RAJA {JAR<}{A}
14 Bishop pokes a judge to irritate (8) ACERBATE {ACE}{R{B}ATE}
17 Spooner's guy rations fuel (8) FIREWOOD Spoonerism of WIRE FOOD
18 Smart chap, perhaps, retired in Iceland, after leaving India (4) ALEC {iCELAnd}<
20 Mostly gormand sorts starting to enjoy cooking (12) GASTRONOMERS {GORMANd SORTS Enjoy}* &Lit For some strange reason the online version was insisting this was wrong. Update: Now Rectified.
23 Sharper, thinner, low leaves (6) WILIER {WILlowIER}
24 Made way through article by director - gripping study (8) THREADED {TH{READ}E}{D}
25 Host quietly ignored one taking umbrage (8) RESENTER {pRESENTER}
26 Creeps in ship taking over lounge (6) SIDLES {S{IDLE}S}

DOWN
2 Set of notes about seaweed (4) AGAR {RAGA<}
3 I'm looking up label sealing father's computer (9) MAINFRAME {I AM}<{N{FR}AME}
4 A boring quiet chap who practises black magic (6) SHAMAN {SH}{A}{MAN}

5 Extremely cool, dark, romantic novel outside small shop that sells online too (6,3,6) CLICKS AND MORTAR {CooL}{DARK ROMANTIC}* over {S}
6 Pressure on police department to arrest rebel after American provided a brief (8) APPRISED {P}{P{RISE}D}<=>{A}
7 Amundsen napped consuming laxative (5) SENNA [T]
8 Maids cleaned up our settees stained with black, pouring a drop of ethanol (10) SOUBRETTES {OUR SETTEeS}* over {B} New word for me
12 Invest in recycled plastic, increasing environmental awareness, basically (10) CAPITALISE {PLASTIC Increasing Environmental Awareness}*
15 Mark holding back British orchestra (5,4) BRASS BAND {BR{ASS}{B}AND}

16 Head of anarchic state's chant about leaders of clamorous rioters storming vessel (8) MOBOCRAT {OM<}{ BOAT} over {Clamourous}{Rioters}
19 Faces animals crossing terminal in Dortmund (6) BEARDS {BEAR{dortmunD}S}
21 Your warmth in entertaining inspires (5) THINE [T]
22 Loud spy dog (4) PEKE {~PEEK}

REFERENCE LIST

Mom=Ma, New=N, Bishop=B, A=Ace, India=Ind, Director=D, Quietly=P, Ship=SS, Father=Fr, Quiet=Sh, Small=S, Pressure=P, Police Department=PD, Black=B, British=B.

No 14604, Friday 03 Oct 2025, Bruno

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS FOR FRIDAY 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

6   Large American city with no grassy area (5) LLANO {L}{LA}{NO}

7   Record-breaking complex not an ogre - made with this building material (3, 5) RED BRICK  {RECorDBReaKIng}*

10 If part of the body's... (7) MIDRIFF IF is middle of rIFf  Semi&lit

11 ... even touched, cut off wrap (7) ENVELOP {EVEN}*{LOP} Touched/Anind?

12 Grill AI-inspired child following centre of exhibit (7) HIBACHI {A{CH}I}<=>{exHIBit}

13 Whip son having no hint of any guts (7) SCOURGE {S}{COURaGE}

14 How's this Olympic event? (11) SHOWJUMPING {HOWS}* [RA]

19 Declare: most of Mexican cooking contains mainly lentils (7) EXCLAIM {MEXICAn}* over {Le...s}

21 Moderate seaside area home to bulk of organisms (7) QUALIFY {QUA{LIFe}Y}

23 Fire current into fuel with a kind of cable (7) COAXIAL {AX}{I} in {COAL}

25 Russia's last liberal collapsed at heart imprisoned in ruler's castle (7) ALCAZAR {r...iA}{L}{C{collApsed}ZAR}

26 Led Zeppelin originally played around AZ after Robert essentially became blind (8) BEDAZZLE {LED+Ze...n} over {AZ} after {roBErt}

27 Crossing river... cold with fear (5) DREAD {D{R}EAD}

DOWN

1   Spooner's father gambles and defaults (3,5) BAD DEBTS (dad bets to bad debts)

2   Set of signs some cricket match in South Africa's corrupt to begin with (6) ZODIAC {Z{ODI}A}{Co...t}

3   Storm's often very loud in Jamaica - leaving area destroyed and long vehicle lines (7,3) TRAFFIC JAM {sToRm} and {FF} in {JAMAICa}*

4   Grandad zealously guarding tool (4) ADZE [T]

5   Leader disregarded funny visual (6) OCULAR jOCULAR

6   Tissues of Latin Goddesses expressing sadness, at heart (6) LYMPHS {L}{nYMPHS}

8   Italian food recipe has garlic sauce infused with bit of vinegar (7) RAVIOLI {R}{A{Vi...r}IOLI}

9   Mysterious sound's starting when setting up Zoom (5) SPEED {DEEP}{So..d}<=

13 Note: Resume developed with AI (first version) can contain questionable beginning (10) SEMIQUAVER {RESUME+AI+Ve...n} over {Qu...e}*

15 Old vehicle in America - one that produces sound through holes (7) OCARINA {O}{CAR}{IN}{A}

16 Grey-haired girl showered with top off (8) GRIZZLED {G}{dRIZZLED}

17 Throw out some rebel churchgoers (5) BELCH [T]

18 Extremely happy new wife leaving home finally, becomes cross (6) HYBRID {HappY}{BRIDe}

20 Mad-Z chasing car crashes (6) CRAZED {ZED}<=>{CAR}*

22 Agree - Eastern Indian peninsula largely needs to be uplifted (6) ACCEDE {E}{DECCAn}<=

24 Dim husband becoming large and idle (4) LAZY (-h+l)LAZY

Reference List

Large = L, Child = CH, Son = S, Fire = AX, Current = I, Liberal = L, River = R, South Africa = ZA, Very loud = FF, Latin = L, Recipe = R, Old = O, America = A, Girl = G, Eastern = E, Husband = H