The Hindu Cryptic on Sunday No 44, Sunday 22 Feb 2026, Incognito

Three answers per commenter till 4 PM (Annotations compulsory) 

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ACROSS

8   Skis broken in minor accident involving a gentle touch (4) KISS*

9   Drink box (5) PUNCH [DD]

10 Stone duck with friend (4) OPAL {O}{PAL}

11 Person making design on stone and such things is with her (6) ETCHER {ETC}{HER}

12 Sticking plaster may be made from strange cosmetic (8) LIPSTICK [CA] {LIPSTICK+STRANGE}*=STICKING PLASTER 

13 Displacing dust, reserve to obtain equine pedigree record (8) STUDBOOK {DUST*}{BOOK}

15 Think retired alien is following stupid aide (6) IDEATE {ET<=}<=>{AIDE}*

17 Dirty relative having a bearing (7) UNCLEAN {UNCLE}{A}{N}

19 Idiotic git holding body part demanding to be scratched (7) ITCHING {IT{CHIN}G*}

22 Man leaves human nosh prepared in island (6) HONSHU {HUman+NOSH}*

24 Middle Eastern countries having loan instalment with taxes (8) EMIRATES {EMI}{RATES}

26 Badly beat the endlessly careless journalist (8) THRASHED {THe}{RASH}{ED}

28 Damaged cart carrying Virginia's neckwear (6) CRAVAT {CRA{VA}T*}

30 Rescue without charge (4) FREE [DD]

31 Polishes fans (5) BUFFS [DD]

32 Flavouring agent possessed by Father Brown (4) HERB [T]

DOWN

1   Colour from Austin, Texas (4) TINT [T]

2   Snake with head of department next to the Spanish flower (8) ASPHODEL {ASP}{HOD}{EL}

3   Love troop marching around Portuguese city (6) OPORTO {0}{TROOP}*

4   Ulna broken by Eisenhower is different (7) UNALIKE {ULNA}*{IKE}

5   Take things without paying from ship loft at sea (8) SHOPLIFT*

6   Drive Ethel endlessly for German polymath (6) GOETHE {GO}{ETHEl}

7   Powder seen in hospital clock (4) TALC [T]

14 Brown gets chance for dance (5) TANGO {TAN}{GO}

16 Stressful past, for example (5) TENSE [DD]

18 Bah! Dubai can be made capital of UAE... (3,5) ABU DHABI*

20 Top level discomfort? (8) HEADACHE [CD]

21 Ned's show of goodwill on departure (4,3) SEND OFF {NEDS}* [RA]

23 Part of flower obtained from saint before conclusion of prayer (6) STAMEN {ST}{AMEN}

25 Carve "Incorporated company is established at first" (6) INCISE {INC}{IS}{Es...d}

27 Musical instrument possessed by Tushar Pandey (4) HARP [T]

29 City shown in diagram (4) AGRA [HIPS]

Reference List

Alien = ET, Bearing = N, Journalist = ED, The in Spanish = EL, Saint = ST

Sunday 08 Mar 2026, IIT (M) WGC, IIT (M) Crossie Open, KrisKross

Announcing the Crossie Open 2026 - Cryptic Crossword competition conducted by the Word Games Club of IIT Madras. It is on March 8th, 2026 at the IIT Madras campus, and I will be hosting it this year.

Registrations are now open - please use this link (google form) to register.

https://forms.gle/eZivoahrNcwt3pTdA