No 14805, Thursday 28 May 2026, Vidwan

Eid Mubarak

Artwork by Prasanna

Solution to 22A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

7   Perverted pest being exposed as world's biggest paedophile ringmaster (7) EPSTEIN {PEST*}{bEINg} 

8   Modest about press berth (7) CHARPOY {C{HARP}OY}

10 American cola cup supply for a Mexican resort (8) ACAPULCO {A}{COLA+CUP}*

11 Planet without active atmosphere, goes around our star (6) URANUS {aURA}{SUN<=}

12 Unhinged pure, endless joy, left suspended, held and put out again! (11) REPUBLISHED {PURE*}{BLISs}{HElD}

15 One going into club to lure (4) BAIT {BA{1}T}

17 German justice, occasionally hard for their neighbours (5) DUTCH {D}{jUsTiCe}{H}

18 Bar unopened always (4) EVER lEVER

19 A victory for new system? Bad in retrospect for a famous Italian Statesman! (11) MACHIAVELLI {MACHI(-n+av)AVE{ILL<=}

22 Zero grams lost at the end of it! (6) ?R?A?M (Addendum - ORGASM {0}{GRAMS*} - See comments)

23 Needs air conditioning for what is left for driver on Indian roads! (8) NEARSIDE*

25 Fabricators quoted 50% for a collection of spirits (7) LIQUORS {LI(-a+QUOted}RS}

26 Plain term describing creativity (7) SPARTAN {SP{ART}AN}

DOWN

1   Great animal feed for new foodie (9) EPICUREAN {EPIC}{UREA}{N}

2   Raise pets! (4-2) STEP-UP {PETS}<=

3   Evil follows with purpose (4) WILL {ILL}<=>{W}

4   King's Hospital urgency! Cuban revolutionary versus Soviet leader! (10) KHRUSHCHEV {K}{H}{RUSH}{CHE}{V}

5   Love reading about fabric (8) ORGANDIE {O}{READING*}

6   Can America fake? (5) BOGUS {BOG}{US}

9   No Christian converted in an ancient Greek City (11) CORINTHIANS*

13 It shoots by capturing ordinary day America, one missed originally (4,6) BODY CAMERA {B{O}{D}Y}{AMERiCA}*

14 I'd a dinner organised for someone like Pinarayi Vijayan? (3,6) RED INDIAN* DBE

16 Party MP! A numbskull! Stuffs eardrum! (8) TYMPANUM [T]

20 Rubbish result? (6) LUSTRE* What's the definition?

21 Bold search for binding (5) BRAID {B}{RAID}

24 Friends quietly moving down two places to a mountain range (4) ALPS (-p)AL(+p)PS

Reference List

American = A, Active = A, Left = L, German = D, Hard = H, Victory = V, New = N, With = W, King = K, Hospital = H, Versus = V, Ordinary = O, Day = D, Bold = B, Quietly = P