No 14693, Saturday 17 Jan 2026, VMA Nair

ACROSS

1   Employee breaks case of salty drink made of beer and lemonade (6) SHANDY {Sal{HAND}tY}

4   Attendant's husband and new child introduced to retired celebrity (8) HENCHMAN {H} and {N}{CH} in {NAME<=}

9   South-eastern state backing small organizations (6) SETUPS {SE}{PUT<=}{S}

10 Suspend professional villain (8) PROROGUE {PRO}{ROGUE}

12 Complain to Saint John about arrangements between automobile owners (3,5) CAR POOLS {CARP} with {S}{LOO}<=

13 Ancestral home bordered by grassland close to capital (6) LINEAL {L{IN}EA}{c...aL}

15 Cafe owner and others retrospectively regret limiting quality time (12) RESTAURATEUR {REST}{RUE<=} over  {AURA}{T}

18 Delivery director is selflessly training kid inside (12) DISTRIBUTION {D}{IS}{T{RIB}UiTION}

21 Grab a brood of chickens (6) CLUTCH [DD]

22 City girl gave faulty plugs (3,5) LAS VEGAS {LAS{GAVE*}S}

24 After an exclamation of disbelief, setter cracks exam in class (8) TUTORIAL {TUT}{OR{I}AL}

25 Some famous Tanzanian verse (6) STANZA [T]

26 Old post office gets positive publicity (8) EXPOSURE {EX}{PO}{SURE}

27 Covered vacant Vietnamese food shop counter (6) VEILED {Vi...sE}{DELI<=}

DOWN

1   Part of window crashed so badly after striking base (4,4) SASH CORD {CRASHeD+SO}*

2   Spymaster is knowingly concealing star shaped mark (8) ASTERISK [T]

3   Trump ultimately sharing funny old comic strip featuring American embassy staff (10,5) DIPLOMATIC  CORPS {t..mP} in {OLD+COMIC+STRIP}* over {A}

5   Make betatron regularly (4) EARN bEtAtRoN

6   Personal account? (10,5) CURRICULUM VITAE [CD]

7   Lure Mossad's top agent somehow (6) MAGNET {Mo...d}{AGENT}*

8   Want endless support for pointer (6) NEEDLE {NEED}{LEg}

11 Plainness of Tripoli, for example, overwhelming Libya (7) CLARITY {C{LAR}ITY}

14 Just fasten hinges around this almost entirely (7) ETHICAL {LACE}<= over {THIs}

16 Cross second round target without trace of nervousness (8) DIAGONAL {AID<=}{GO{Ne...s}AL}

17 Aunt's kid excitedly leaving university after getting a little narrow tray for holding pens (8) INKSTAND {AuNTS+KID}* over {Na...w}

19 Tool for cutting piece of some extremely costly article (6) SCYTHE {Some}{Co..lY}{THE}

20 Brawl in elevated place near subway (4-2) BUST-UP {PUT}{SUB}<=

23 Reasonable price, so it's said (4) FAIR (~fare)

Reference List

Husband = H, New = N, Child = CH, Small = S, Saint = S, John = LOO, Time = T, Director = D, Base = E, American = A, University = U