The Hindu Cryptic on Sunday No 80, Sunday 01 Nov 2026, Bruno

Three answers per commenter till 4 PM (Annotations Compulsory)

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ACROSS

1   Section of University gets first test (4)

3   Prominent old bishop gets help to recruit a lawyer (10)

9   Actually, the Federal Reserve repealed law on overdraft to begin with (2,5)

11 Record ending in symphony - often called one of three Rs... (7)

12 Yard party with alcoholic drink's about to be joined by man to give new life (8)

13 Louvre has no right to move egg (5)

15 Starving, endured hours in exercises (14)

17 Opening in wall with plaster covering a piece of stone to get breeze - out west (8,6)

21 Awake... about to follow shy animal (5)

22 Ring with stylish cut on girl's top (8)

24 Apply uniform tiles decoratively to cover interior of pit (7)

25 Nerveless soldiers turned up, pulled out crocodile's nuts (3-4)

26 Very small youth took years to go to big city (5-5)

27 Boss' analysis finished early (4)

DOWN

1   Tenderloin's rough and bloody up in the middle (8)

2   One doesn't believe daughter moved all the way south for place of action (7)

4   Amoral earnings can attract demon, perhaps by vices (5,5)

5   Nobleman's gemstone quietly stolen (4)

6   Cleric's problematic situation... (7,6)

7   ... the reason being ecstasy and cocaine abuse, sadly (7)

8   Area surrounded by water said to be a hole (6)

10 Bury city erects building without bar for protection (13)

14 One could be extending out for support shortly at home, overcoming remorse, at heart (10)

16 Bilateral treaty's prologue's broad, covering old Southern dispute's origin (3-5)

18 Not starting crazy relationship spanning months at your convenience (7)

19 Prolong disease after doctor's medications essentially (4,3)

20 Supernatural and lacking volume, with ugly legs and three heads? (6)

23 Main character energy suppressing love now (4)

No 14937, Saturday 31 October 2026, Dr. X

 ACROSS
1 Stuttering? We got heartily drunk - it's difficult to articulate (6,7) TONGUE TWISTER {STUTTERING WE gOt}*
8 Wife enthralled by knocking back European beverages (5) BREWS {S{W}ERB}<
9 Transports ecstasy across Spain by a stretch of water ( 6,3) BERING SEA {B{E}RINGS}{E}{A}

11 Instruct crew to move closer to check railway accident (5,5) TRAIN WRECK {TRAIN}{CREW*}{checK}
12 Come up against fine champion (4) FACE {F}{ACE}
14 Baron, touch irritated by prince's bungle (5,2) BOTCH UP {B}{TOUCH*}{P}
16 A bag containing note with extremely unusual ring (7) ANNULET {A}{N{N}{UnusuaL}ET}

17 Detached portion of old, broken tile in ancient city (7) OUTLIER {O}{U{TILE*}R}
19 Cher is zesty at opening, playing lively compositions (7) SCHERZI {CHER IS Zesty}*
21 King survives, grabs queen's Malayan dagger (4) KRIS {K}{R}{IS}

22 Lacking width - saw's not working (3,2,5) OUT OF WHACK {OUT OF}{W}{HACK}
25 Slow-cooked cut of beef and drink for a soprano and tenor (4,5) RUMP ROAST {RUM}{PRO}{A}{S}{T}
26 Beginning to tipple in the middle of the day? That's unacceptable (3,2) NOT ON {NO{Tipple}ON}
27 Cheetahs ran berserk outside oriental college? It's likely (3,7,3) THE CHANCES ARE {CHEETAHS RAN}* around {E}{C}

DOWN
2 Soft drug in full moon rave is producing effects (7) OPERANT {P}{E} in {O}{RANT}
3 Cured his dengue on time - bless you! (10) GESUNDHEIT {HIS DENGUE}*{T}
4 Stop in English pub across motorway (5) EMBAR {E}{M}{BAR}
5 Line deleted from outstanding part of speech (4,5) WORD CLASS {WORlD}{CLASS
6 Shoot second goal (4) SEND {S}{END}
7 Tangle with nobleman protecting extremely notorious nationalist (7) ENSNARL {E{NotoriouS}{N}ARL} 
8 One treating cardiovascular problem caused by drink outside club's retro bar (4,7) BETA BLOCKER {BEER} outside {BAT<}{LOCK}
10 Stunned by associate spreading news about fraud by head of establishment (11) AWESTRICKEN {A}{NEWS*} about {TRICK}{Establishment}
13 Where airplane's fuel is // readily available (2,3,5) IN THE WINGS [DD]
15 Reckless ultra caught by policeman around atomic plant (9) PORTULACA {ULTRA*} inside {COP<}+A

18 Conquest by US president to seize island near northern side of Hormuz (7) TRIUMPH {TR{I}UMP}{Hormuz}
20 Cooking appliance in a resort malfunctioned (7) ROASTER*
23 Work on twitch relating to the eye (5) OPTIC {OP}{TIC}
24 Reptile amongst metamorphic rocks (4) CROC [T]

REFERENCE LIST

Wife=W, Ecstasy=E, Spain=E, Fine=F, Baron=B, Prince=P, Note=N, Old=O, Ancient City=Ur, King=K, Queen=R (Regina), Width=W, Soprano=S, Tenor=T, Oriental=E (Eastern), College=C, Soft=P (Piano), Drug=E, Full Moon=O, Time=T, English=E, Motorway=M, Line=L, Second=S, Nationalist=N, Associate=A, Atomic=A, Island=I, Work=Op(us).