No 14559, Saturday 9 August 2025, Vidwan

Rangoli by Gowri

ACROSS

8 Function not finishing at 1 PM! (4) MODI {MODe}{1}

9 We entertained popular sex worker to operate at residence of 10 Ac (5,5) WHITE HOUSE

{W{HIT}E}{HO}{USE}

10 & 17 Get into a vacant land and start to till the remaining part for Elon's 'friend' (6,5) DONALD TRUMP {DON}{A}{LanD}{Till}{RUMP}

11 Wife with one at sea? Not a worry for smarty pants! (8) WISEACRE {W}{I}{SEA}{CaRE}
12 Most advanced young kin bearing name Mercy (8) LENIENCE {LEd}{NIE{N}CE}
14 Doctor No is back at El Salvador for UAVs (6) DRONES {DR}{NO<}{E S}

16 Family having large appliance (4) KILN {KI{L}N}
17 See 10
18 Evil drink works for believer (4) BEER {EVIL+BEER}*=BELIEVER [CA]
19 Welcomes Superman, hides blunder! (4-2) MESS-UP [T]
21 Father had almost left with "Good Morning" to the site of latest terrorist attack (8) PAHALGAM {PA}{HAd}{L}{G}{AM}
23 Last letter had left Poles disheartened! Solution - Leader of Ukraine! (8) ZELENSKY {ZE{L}E}{N S}{KeY}

26 Nadal, the French fighter! (6) RAFALE {RAFA}{LE}

27 Their past is akin, sadly (10) PAKISTANIS*
28 Love sign and sound of swine (4) OINK {O}{INK}

DOWN
1 Snubbed in love, spirit has short time to integrate (10) HOMOGENISE Anno not clear {HOMe}{O}GENI{S}E} See comments
2 Mend country, without new mania (8) FIXATION {FIX}{nATION}
3 Second day in small, northern part of Scandinavia (6) SWEDEN {S}{WE{D}E}{N}

4 Struggle with belief (4) VIEW {VIE}{W}
5 Hammered speed nut became stiff (6,2) TENSED UP*
6 My French meat, crossing borders to city state (6) MONACO {MON}{bACOn}

7 At times, it is fair for old ruler (4) TSAR {iT iS fAiR}
13 Stock English witticism (5) EQUIP {E}{QUIP}
15 Glean lie by casual staring (10) EYEBALLING*
17 Class prepares, gets ready for printing (8) TYPESETS {TYPE}{SETS}
18 Croaker's strong Irish accented English as heard by Spooner (8) BULLFROG {Spoonerism of FULL BROGUE}

20 No second class coin money (6) SPECIE {SPECIEs}
22 Where synagogue hides apostasy? (6) HERESY [T]
24 Musk expresses love for a style (4) ELAN {EL(-o+A}N}
25 Jerk residing in Turkey, Ankara (4) YANK [T]

REFERENCE LIST

One=1, Wife=W, Name=N, Large=L, Father=Pa, Left=L, Good=G, Morning=AM, Last Letter=Zee, Poles= N(orth), S(outh), The (in) French=Le, Love=O, New=N, Second=S, Day=D, Northern=N, With=W, My (in) French=Mon, English=E.