Sunday, 22 February 2026

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

Three answers per commenter till 4 PM (Annotations compulsory) 
Please submit all your answers in one comment.  

(COMMENTS ENTERED WITH LESS THAN THREE ANSWERS/ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE, UNLESS THE COMMENTER SPECIFIES THAT IT IS A COMPENSATION FOR A REPEAT)

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

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32 comments:

  1. Devi Prasad22 February 2026 at 07:12

    11A:etcher=person making design on stone
    and such things(etc) is with (her)
    (etc)(her)
    2D:asphodel=flower
    snake(asp) with (hod) next to the spanish(el), {(asp)(hod)(el)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gemini22 February 2026 at 07:14

    4D. Unalike= different
    Ulna broken is unable
    IKE= nickname of Dwight Eisenhower
    My first

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gemini22 February 2026 at 07:15

    9A. Drink = punch= box. It's a DD
    My second

    ReplyDelete
  4. Devi Prasad22 February 2026 at 07:18

    13A:studbook=equine pedigree record
    displacing dust(stud), reserve(book)
    {(stud)(book)}

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gemini22 February 2026 at 07:19

    28A. Cravat= a short, wide strip ofva)t fabric worn by men round the neck and tucked inside an open-necked shirt

    Damaged cart= crat
    VA= Virginia( abbrev for the state of Virginia).
    Carrying is the containment indicator .
    Cra(va)t
    My third

    ReplyDelete
  6. Deepak Gopinath22 February 2026 at 07:40

    No special at 4 PM today

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ramanathan Ranganathan22 February 2026 at 07:52

    10 a OPAL Duck is zero. Pal is friend. OPAL is a stone..

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ramanathan Ranganathan22 February 2026 at 07:55

    1 d TINT. Colour is hidden in AusTIN Texas

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ramanathan Ranganathan22 February 2026 at 07:57

    18 d ABU DHABI.. Anagram of Bah Dubai

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sathia22 February 2026 at 08:49

    19A: demanding to be scratched = itching
    (Git)*
    Body part is chin
    Hence, (it(chin)g)
    24A: Middle East countries = emirates
    ((EMI)(rates))
    23D: part of flower= stamen
    ((St)(amen))
    Sathia

    ReplyDelete
  11. Padmanabhan22 February 2026 at 08:59

    17A- Unclean- Dirty- (Uncle) a n
    bearing- direction- N
    22A- Honshu- Island
    Man leaves human- Hu
    Nosh prepared- (Nosh)*- Onsh
    H onsh U
    In us container indicator
    26A- Thrashed- Badly beat
    The endlessly- TH
    Careless- Rash
    Journalist- Ed
    Th rash ed

    ReplyDelete
  12. D N M Rao22 February 2026 at 09:20

    8Ac KISS -{SKIS}*
    6Dn GOETHE - {GO}{ETHE(-l)}
    15Ac IDEATE - {AIDE*}{ET<=}

    ReplyDelete
  13. Remy22 February 2026 at 09:36

    3 dn oporto-portuguese city love-o troop*
    5 dn shop lift -take things without paying
    shiploft.
    25 dn incise-carve.
    inc is e

    ReplyDelete
  14. Padmanabhan22 February 2026 at 10:12

    5d- Ho0w does 'shiploft' become shoplift?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Chandrasekaran Swaminathan22 February 2026 at 10:14

    12 A
    COSMETIC = LIPSTICK
    Sticking plaster - strange = LIPSTICK

    30 A
    RESCUE = FREE
    WITHOUT CHARGE = FREE
    SOLUTION = FREE ( DD )

    31 A
    POLISHES =BUFFFANS Are BUFFS
    SOLUTION = BUFFS ( DD )

    ReplyDelete
  16. AJ22 February 2026 at 10:30

    7d TALC: powder
    Hosp(TAL C) lock

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AJ22 February 2026 at 10:32

      16d TENSE: stressful
      Past( tense) for example

      Delete
    2. AJ22 February 2026 at 10:34

      20d HEADACHE: top level( head) discomfort(ache)

      Delete
  17. Vasanthi22 February 2026 at 10:42

    29dn Agra di(agra)m
    21dn send off (RA)
    32ac herb (T)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Murali22 February 2026 at 10:44

    32A HERB = Flavouring agent
    part of fat(HER B)rown

    ReplyDelete
  19. Murali22 February 2026 at 10:45

    27D HARP = musical instrument
    part of Tus(HAR P)andey

    ReplyDelete
  20. Murali22 February 2026 at 10:47

    29D AGRA = city in di(AGRA)m

    ReplyDelete
  21. Devi Prasad22 February 2026 at 11:05

    14A left.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Padmanabhan22 February 2026 at 12:39

    14D- Tango- Dance- (Tan) go
    Brown=Tan, Chance= Go

    ReplyDelete
  23. Orthopaul22 February 2026 at 12:44

    14d.. TANGO BROWN is TAN
    Go is chance.
    Tango is a dance

    ReplyDelete

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