No 14623, Monday 27 Oct 2025, Vidwan

Solution to 25A 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

8   Spooner's blending alternate for a mocktail (6,4) VIRGIN MARY (merging vary to virgin mary)

9   Bare element for God of the wisdom (4) ODIN iODINe

10 Bail at once? Difficult for criminal (10) ACTIONABLE* Semi&lit

11 Love comical mouse (4) VOLE*

12 Dance was complicated, like a puzzle (6) JIGSAW {JIG}{WAS*}

13 Young flier jiggles, gets in line occasionally (8) NESTLING {GETS+IN+LiNe}*

15 Wrong returns? Run! (4) TROT<=

16 Cell where the two, together welcomed love (5) BOOTH {BO{O}TH}

17 Every pain in the end comes to the fore (4) EACH (+e)EACH(-e)

19 A very loud score reaching inwardly towards the core (8) AFFERENT {A}{FF}E{RENT} E from?

21 Agitating over European Union works, totally! (6) OEUVRE {OVER+EU}* 

22 Unwritten unbounded ethics (4) ORAL mORALs

23 Doctor submits a case of subocular squint (10) STRABISMUS {SUBMITS+A+Su...aR}*

24 Pluto's cold circle (4) DISC {DIS}{C}

25 Tell about new English royal's unexpected meeting (10) R?N?O?N?E? (Addendum - RENCOUNTER - {RE{N}{COUNT}{E}{R} - See comments)

DOWN

1   More sticky like power and lust! That is right! (8) PITCHIER {P}{ITCH}{IE}{R}

2   Technical task! Go rushing! As fast as possible! (7,3,5) AGAINST THE CLOCK*

3   Lost without direction, Elba won all around, that is something beyond comprehension (10) UNKNOWABLE {sUNK}{ELBA+WON}*

4   Measure of pollution by a person or vehicle, good base to record on paper (6,9) CARBON  FOOTPRINT {CAR}{BON}{FOOT}{PRINT}

5   Bits found in twisted safety belts (4) BYTE [T<=]

6   Fitting in elusive clue on a French culinary style (8,7) NOUVELLE CUISINE*

7   Substitute flipper getting sick (4,2) FILL IN {F{ILL}IN}

14 Most choose fancy look over piece of basic student literature (10) SCHOOLBOOK {CHOOSe}*{L{Ba..c}OOK}

18 Song about purpose of conveyor belt (8) CAROUSEL {CARO{USE}L}

20 Ban because of command (6) FORBID {FOR}{BID}

23 Antidotes are distributed after end of trials (4) SERA {ARE}*<=>{t...lS}

Reference List

Very loud = FF, Cold = C, About = RE, English = E, Royal = R, Power = P, Right = R, Good = BON

The Hindu Cryptic on Sunday No 27, Sunday 26 Oct 2025, Incognito

ACROSS

8 & 1 Gobble creature with feather (4,4) WOLF DOWN {WOLF}{DOWN}

9   Bird gives shelter to one Sesame Street character (5) ERNIE {ERN{1}E}

10 Aluminium probably sourced initially in mountain range (4) ALPS {AL}{Po...y}{So...d}

11 Ms Merkel's bro left Bangalore building (6) ANGELA bANGALorE*

12 Old hotel accepts garlic preparation for big businessman controlling politics (8) OLIGARCH {O}{GARLIC*}{H}

13 Choke stern gal erroneously (8) STRANGLE*

15 False nature wrongly shown around university, in absence of academician (6) UNTRUE {NaTURE}* over {U}

17 Clarify: "Previous girlfriend unattractive" (7) EXPLAIN {EX}{PLAIN}

19 Doctor, he later treated skin (7) LEATHER* Doctor is superfluous See comments

22 Except one, entire entourage initially gets main course (6) ENTREE {ENTiRE}En...e}

24 Moneylender's income from Bury estate (8) INTEREST {INTER}{EST}

26 Test case may be stored in this? (8) CASSETTE* Semi&lit

28 Get away from Spanish headland (6) ESCAPE {ES}{CAPE}

30 Indian tribal from Srinagar (4) NAGA [T]

31 Sinatra's candid (5) FRANK [DD]

32 Bedouin, for example, found in Vikarabad (4) ARAB [T]

DOWN

1 See 8 Across

2   When everything is taken into account, fall rate may be adjusted (5,3) AFTER ALL* 

3   Margaret hugs grandmother in Malaysian island (6) PENANG {PE{NAN}G} 

4   Wildly run around chap and remove lid (7) UNCOVER {UN{COVE}R*}

5   Partly dressed? Used mine wrongly... (4-4) SEMI-NUDE*

6   Person with exceptional aptitude sat around vehicle (6) SAVANT {SA{VAN}T}

7   Magnificent record followed by one hundred (4) EPIC {EP}{1}{C}

14 Container carrying animal poison (5) TOXIN {T{OX}IN}

16 Addicts sure to be confused before starting to sniff (5) USERS {SURE}*{Sn..f}

18 Find yeti roaming and recognise (8) IDENTIFY*

20 Traitor's taco (8) TURNCOAT {TACO}* [RA]

21 Date for payment of penalty? Can be a nice period of 24 hours! (4,3) FINE DAY [DD]

23 Cars damaged by a large rogue (6) RASCAL {CARS}*{A}{L}

25 Fine tunes and adjusts waste around end of week (6) TWEAKS {TWEA{weeK}S*}

27 Advanced method? Not at home! (4) AWAY {A}{WAY}

29 Fuel from vegetable on a bit of toast (4) PEAT {PEA}{To..t}

Reference List

Old = O, Hotel = H, University = U, Academician = A, Previous girlfriend = EX, Estate = EST, Spanish = ES, Grandmother = NAN, Record = EP(Extended Play), Hundred = C, Large = L