No 14553, Saturday 2 August 2025, Incognito

 ACROSS
8 Toneless singer at seaside town (4) BARI BARItone

9 Place for heartbreak? (5) EARTH*
10 Threw rose for cupid (4) EROS*
11 Believe director lost gold when travelling (6) CREDIT {DIRECTor}*
12 Mum's taking in tough dogs (8) MASTIFFS {MA{STIFF}'S}

13 One on the Rolls, perhaps? (8) EMPLOYEE [CD]
15 Mohawk, for example, hid oar deviously (6) HAIRDO*

17 Capital one invested in casino renovation (7) NICOSIA {I} in {CASINO}*
19 Military unit starts to battle desperate extremists around country capital (7) BRIGADE {Battle}{RIGA}{Desperate}{Extremists}
22 Women's rowing team's tonnage, perhaps (6) WEIGHT {W}{EIGHT}
24 Sailor boy in enclosure gets a bit of salad vegetables (8) CABBAGES {AB}{B} in {CAGE}+{Salad}
26 Badly hated fight in part of prison holding inmates awaiting execution (5,3) DEATH ROW {HATED}*{ROW}
28 Measure of volume of ship having no energy source (6) GALLON {GALLeON}
30 This, for example: "Caught girl leaving glue" (4) CLUE {C}{gLUE}
31 Guide// cattle (5) STEER [DD]
32 Military organisation running amok in the middle of mutiny? (4) UNIT {mUTINy}*

DOWN
1 Couple's normal around 1 (4) PAIR {PA{I}R}
2 Before John, Virginia consumes Indian dish (8) VINDALOO {LOO}<=>{V{IND}A}
3 Southern gate guard (6) SENTRY {S}{ENTRY}
4 Instrument got from alien following president (7) TRUMPET {ET}<=>{TRUMP}
5 Luminous substance produced when developing photographs not having tag (8) PHOSPHOR{PHOtOgRaPHS}*
6 Celestial twins's jewel in India (6) GEMINI {GEM}{IN}{I}

7 See a female kill time (4) LOAF {LO}{A}{F}
14 Ms West travels across Indiana state (5) MAINE {MA{IN}E}
16 Avoid admitting director in Department of Government Efficiency at first (5) DODGE {D} in {Department}{Of}{Government}{Efficiency}
18 What an uncle might want to collect unreasonably? (8) INTEREST [CD]
20 Cad following aim put in full effort (2,3,3) GO ALL OUT {LOUT}<=>{GOAL}
21 Animal in vehicle glared (7) SCOWLED {S{COW}LED}
23 Drain //person disembowelling carcass (6) GUTTER {DD}
25 Garbo went around with model actor (6) BOGART {GARBO}*{T}

27 General returned with small fishes (4) EELS {LEE}<{S}
29 Drop ring at premier technical institution (4) OMIT {O}{MIT}

REFERENCE LIST

Gold=OR, Mum=Ma, One=I, Women=W, Sailor=AB, Boy=B, Caught=C, Girl=G, Indian=Ind, Southern=S, Alien=ET, India=I, Female=F, Director=D, Model=T, Small=S, Ring=O.

NICE 25 South Zone Finals, 02 Aug 25, Chennai

No 14552, Friday 01 Aug 2025, Arden

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ACROSS

1   Fancy act, expose everything inside (7) CABARET {CA{BARE}T*} &lit

5   Horse gets crabby at regular intervals - it's horrible (7) MACABRE {MA{CrAbBy}RE}

9   Sent a criminal behind (5) NATES*

10 Essentially halt in place for an abrupt evolutionary change (9) SALTATION {S{hALt}TATION}

11 Retain collection - agree to entertain a complaint (9) EYESTRAIN {E{YES}TRAIN*}

12 It was decreed that butter was short (5) FATWA {FAT}{WAs}

13 Sprinkles half of them by dropping (4) SCAT SCATters

15 Badly disillusioned dudes leave the state (8) ILLINOIS dISILLusIONed* 

18 Glad at heart to increase value (8) APPRAISE {hAPPy}{RAISE}

19 One follows hard grind (4) HONE {ONE}<=>{H}

22 Openly corrupt - people finally withdrew support (5) PYLON OPeNLY*

24 Discontented landlord pockets potential earning in city (9) LENINGRAD {La...rD} over {EARNING}*

26 European boy in China upset with hot dish (9) ENCHILADA {E}{NCHI{LAD}A*}

27 Money in box returned to banks (5) RAMPS {SP{M}AR<=}

28 Regularly resells product like fish (7) EELPOUT {rEsElLs+PrOdUcT}

29 Broken twit reveals duplicity (7) TREASON {T}{REASON}

DOWN

1   Caught up with Ayrton on the French Riviera (6) CANNES {C}{SENNA<=}

2   Ramstein gets cut flower (9) BUTTERCUP {BUTTER}{CUP}

3   Start from zero again as others receive a point (5) RESET {RES{E}T}

4   Conductor contains alternative current (9) TOSCANINI {CONTAINS}*{I}

5   Italian PM is short but sweet (5) MELON MELONi

6   About 12.5 mm, in other words not large bird (9) CHAFFINCH {C}{(~half inch)HAFFINCH}

7   Suitably contrived, don't say constructed (5) BUILT sUITaBLy*

8   Perhaps need an answer to Nina from Carolina (6) ENNEAD* 

14 American actor combining nation and art somehow (9) TARANTINO {NATION+ART}*

16 Bide one's time till criminal in law caught - that's it (3,2,4) LIE IN WAIT {IN+LAW}* over {IE} with {IT}

17 Funny or amusing? One doesn't know (9) IGNORAMUS*

20 Extremely sharp - he is on a round (6) SPHERE {SharP}{HE}{RE}

21 No side-stepping initially for him to come up with an invention (6) EDISON [T<=] Semi&lit

23 Resident in Kargil - a cold place going up north (5) LOCAL [T<=]

24 Minimum is close to five in the final (5) LEAST {L{fivE}AST}

25 Doctor, surgeon go away as one tends to patients (5) NURSE SURgEoN*

Reference List

Hard = H, European = E, Money = M, Caught = C, Ram = BUTTER, Stein = CUP, Point = E, Current = I, About = C, Large = L, On = RE