The Hindu Cryptic on Sunday No 72, Sunday 06 Sep 2026, Arden

Three answers per commenter till 4 PM (Annotations Compulsory)

Please submit all your answers in one comment.

(COMMENTS ENTERED WITH LESS THAN THREE ANSWERS/ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE, UNLESS THE COMMENTER SPECIFIES THAT IT IS A COMPENSATION FOR A REPEAT)

ACROSS

1   Arrival at home — predator's back! (6)

4   Viewed separately, aloo therefore is a plant (8)

10 Return some of the oil of tropical palm holding (9)

11 Loud — loud not even free (5)

12 Half of congress is back — mostly in an Italian dumpling (7)

13 The noise vanishes with these Australian natives (7)

14 Encourage for a long time to corral the horse (3,2)

15 Silly old man clutched the gold and fell (8)

18 Trick to complete size of paper (8)

20 Refuse to eat a child snack (5)

23 Fresh air brings an Australian back in this state (7)

25 Brown man not allowed inside circle (7)

26 Monkey captures flower seller's heart (5)

27 Not knowing whether in church organ playing is permitted (9)

28 Turn girl into a piece of shipboard machinery (8)

29 Approves initially after department of personnel training's submission (6)

DOWN

1   Disputed case of dog wearing fancy denim (8)

2   Pile on pine for some distance (7)

3   Formal inclusion of new plants and herbs used in medicinal preparations (9)

5   Part of the IT revolution could perhaps be working out (5,9)

6   Ultimately, cotton may feel too common like synthetic material (5)

7   Complain about old missile (7)

8   A savage said to go off on the way (6)

9   Subject of running machines freely without copyright (5,9)

16 Glad about inner working in the city (9)

17 Fastness not opposing hair at the bottom (8)

19 Moronic interpretation of an alien character (7)

21 Straighten out prize list inside (7)

22 Fine on permit for undeveloped land (6)

24 One billed inhouse, later (5)

No 14891, Saturday 05 Sep 2026, Pixie Dust

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY TO ALL THE TEACHERS HERE

Artwork by Prasanna

 ACROSS

7 Extremely corrupt amateur (egghead) agent missing now and then (6) AUGEAN (amAteUr+eGghEad+AgeNt}
8 Forego pals? Not so casually in child's play (8) LEAPFROG {FOREGo PALs}*

9 Topped stretching in workout (8) TRAINING {sTRAINING} 
10 Exiled man in Germany refused entry to begin with (6) EMIGRE [Acrostic] Semi & Lit
11 Doubt dead legends? (4,4) COLD FEET {COLD}{FEET} Legend=End of leg=foot
12 Dismiss wriggling of a fly (3-3) LAY-OFF*
13 Ya! Count over and over in book-keeping? (11) ACCOUNTANCY {YA COUNT}*[Letter Bank] 

18 A Republican member of parliament has appeal in sweater? (6) ARMPIT {A}{R}{MP}{IT}
20 Gasp! I ran towards hiding suitor (8) ASPIRANT [T]
22 Elitist returns first class miniature plant (6) BONSAI {SNOB<}{AI}

23 Formless, trendy confectionery? No, pass! (8) INCHOATE {IN}{CHOcolATE}
24 Rich Neapolitan Sauce from one of New York's Five Families (8) GENOVESE [DD]
25 A grave tribute? (6) EULOGY [CD]

DOWN
1 Runner's back around end of June with Professor's reward (7) GUERDON {R{junE}UG<}{DON}
2 Once in a while, every idiotic criminal losing it perhaps (8) PERIODIC {PER}{iDIOtIC*}
3 Live? So soon! Will I win debate finally (6) ONLINE [Tail Acrostic]
4 Animal upset about bloomer (8) CAMELLIA {CAMEL}{AIL<}

5 Some enjoy GIF featuring revolutionary figure (6) EFFIGY [T<]

6 Bluff about extremely feisty char (7) TORREFY {TOR}{RE}{FeistY}
8 Kindling Spooner's conflict with a story-teller? (8,1,4) LIGHTING A FIRE Spoonerism of     FIGHTING A LIAR
14 Devil came through? (8) OUTLIVED {DEVIL*}[RA]
15 Doh! These ride sharing arrangements made a mess of a school drop? (3,5) CAR POOLS {CAR POOLS+DOH}*= A SCHOOL DROP
16 Impudent when cycling around upright, humble cavalryman (7) TROOPER {(+T)TPER(-t)} around {POOR<} Pert is impudent and PERT cycling is TPER. Humble=Poor. A lost P is unaccounted for.
16 Impudent when cycling around upright, humble, masked cavalryman (7) TROOPER {(+T)TPER(-t)} around {pOOR<} Clue modified by Pixie Dust

17 To some extent buffoons tag equilibrists in view of the audience (7) ONSTAGE [T]
19 Handgun's part of a blossom, we hear (6) PISTOL {~PISTIL}
21 Spot alien's bag (6) POCKET {POCK}{ET}

Reference List

Republican=R, Member of parliament=MP, (Sex) Appeal=it, First Class=A1=AI, About=Re, Alien=ET (Extra-Terristrial).