No 14805, Thursday 28 May 2026, Vidwan

Eid Mubarak

Artwork by Prasanna

Solution to 22A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered 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   Perverted pest being exposed as world's biggest paedophile ringmaster (7) EPSTEIN {PEST*}{bEINg} 

8   Modest about press berth (7) CHARPOY {C{HARP}OY}

10 American cola cup supply for a Mexican resort (8) ACAPULCO {A}{COLA+CUP}*

11 Planet without active atmosphere, goes around our star (6) URANUS {aURA}{SUN<=}

12 Unhinged pure, endless joy, left suspended, held and put out again! (11) REPUBLISHED {PURE*}{BLISs}{HElD}

15 One going into club to lure (4) BAIT {BA{1}T}

17 German justice, occasionally hard for their neighbours (5) DUTCH {D}{jUsTiCe}{H}

18 Bar unopened always (4) EVER lEVER

19 A victory for new system? Bad in retrospect for a famous Italian Statesman! (11) MACHIAVELLI {MACHI(-n+av)AVE{ILL<=}

22 Zero grams lost at the end of it! (6) ?R?A?M ()

23 Needs air conditioning for what is left for driver on Indian roads! (8) NEARSIDE*

25 Fabricators quoted 50% for a collection of spirits (7) LIQUORS {LI(-a+QUOted}RS}

26 Plain term describing creativity (7) SPARTAN {SP{ART}AN}

DOWN

1   Great animal feed for new foodie (9) EPICUREAN {EPIC}{UREA}{N}

2   Raise pets! (4-2) STEP-UP {PETS}<=

3   Evil follows with purpose (4) WILL {ILL}<=>{W}

4   King's Hospital urgency! Cuban revolutionary versus Soviet leader! (10) KHRUSHCHEV {K}{H}{RUSH}{CHE}{V}

5   Love reading about fabric (8) ORGANDIE {O}{READING*}

6   Can America fake? (5) BOGUS {BOG}{US}

9   No Christian converted in an ancient Greek City (11) CORINTHIANS*

13 It shoots by capturing ordinary day America, one missed originally (4,6) BODY CAMERA {B{O}{D}Y}{AMERiCA}*

14 I'd a dinner organised for someone like Pinarayi Vijayan? (3,6) RED INDIAN* DBE

16 Party MP! A numbskull! Stuffs eardrum! (8) TYMPANUM [T]

20 Rubbish result? (6) LUSTRE* What's the definition?

21 Bold search for binding (5) BRAID {B}{RAID}

24 Friends quietly moving down two places to a mountain range (4) ALPS (-p)AL(+p)PS

Reference List

American = A, Active = A, Left = L, German = D, Hard = H, Victory = V, New = N, With = W, King = K, Hospital = H, Versus = V, Ordinary = O, Day = D, Bold = B, Quietly = P

No 14804, Wednesday 27 May 2026, Vidwan

 Solution to 1D has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered 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

1   No loud part for someone like Tom Hanks (5) ACTOR fACTOR

4   One's school shift interrupted by female parent (4,5) ALMA MATER {AL{MAMA}TER}

9   Fitting a specialist job? Nearly! (7) APROPOS {A}{PRO}{POSt}

10 Plants explosive in a small car (7) ARNICAS {IN+A+S+CAR}*

11 Tree found in backward sacred lands (5) ALDER [T<=]

13 Like having slightly bulky core muscles (3) ABS {A{Bu..y}S}

15 Regularly flying in an order (5) ALIGN {A{fLyInG}N}

16 They banned English for you in the past (3) THY THeY

17 Tense, nervous youngsters (5) TEENS*

18 Volcanic rock, almost elementary (5) BASAL BASALt 

20 Shift to desired position and sleep around centre of bed (5) RESET {RES{bEd}T}

22 Greek deity of tear-jerking love (5) ERATO {TEAR*}{O}

23 Unhappy leader sent back for promotions (3) ADS (-s)AD(+s)S

24 Palindromic rule (5) TENET <=>

25 Hundred not out! (3) TON*

26 King looked set in harmony (5) KEYED {K}{EYED}

27 Star in race, nearly creating cataclysmic waves (7) TSUNAMI {T{SUN}AMIl}

29 Part of shower linen at Spooner's science club (4,3) BATH MAT (~math bat to bath mat)

31 Little less difficult clue! (9) MINUSCULE {MINUS}{CLUE*}

32 Issue with rebel children (5) BELCH [T]

DOWN

1   Whitish flower having lean bean (9) A?A?A?T?R (Addendum - ALABASTER {ASTER} over {LeAn}{BeAn} - See comments) Letter pick indicator missing

2   Wearily emend, perhaps determinedly! (7) TIREDLY {TIREDLY+EMEND}*=DETERMINEDLY [CA]

3   Almost spellbound by kind of underground music (3) RAP RAPt

4   Like playing games tune for solace (11) ASSUAGEMENT {AS}{GAMES+TUNE}*

5   Objective: Getting back untraceable soldiers (3) MIA<=

6   Lament about black press causing freezing of thought process (6,5) MENTAL BLOCK {LAMENT*}{B}{LOCK}

7   Diplomacy is about cold machinations (7) TACTICS {TACT}{I{C}S}

8   Sinner suffers without new chemical (5) RESIN SInNER*

12 Knock on the door! New start at Tata! (3-1-3-4) RAT-A-TAT-TATS*

14 Liable for legal action over stigma lasting for long (11) SUSTAINABLE {SUABLE} over {STAIN} 

19 Desperate, small time policeman getting into bar (4-5) LAST-DITCH {LA{S}{T}{DI}TCH}

21 Jain nuances perhaps from nice city (3,4) SAN JUAN {SAN+JUAN+NICE}*=JAIN+NUANCES [CA] 

23 A heartless lad, most petty and appalling (7) ABYSMAL {A}{BoY}{SMALl}

24 Symbol of child seems to be regularly ignored (5) TOTEM {TOT}{sEeMs}

28 Barely righteous acknowledgement of debt (3) IOU pIOUs

30 Deep vessel but overturned (3) TUB<=

Reference List

Loud = F, Small = S, English = E, King = K, Black = B, Cold = C, New = N, Time = T, Policeman = DI(Detective Inspector)