The Hindu Cryptic on Sunday No 74, Sunday 20 Sep 2026, Incognito

Three answers per commenter till 4 PM (Annotations Compulsory)

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ACROSS

8   Initial exposure behind animal shelter results in eye problem (4) STYE {Ex...e}<=>{STY}

9   Animal having desire to be accommodated in 10,000 square metres (5) HYENA {H{YEN}A}

10 Gun held by East-Ender (4) STEN [T]

11 Boy retiring behind vehicle is one who wantonly damages property (6) VANDAL {LAD<=}<=>{VAN}

12 Wrongfully fill up as "Bucket-loads" (8) PAILFULS*

13 Male creator redrew a kind of map projection (8) MERCATOR {M}{CREATOR*}

15 Rang Charlie and Della on return (6) CALLED {C}{DELLA<=}

17 Set aside book (7) RESERVE [DD]

19 Girls follow college head's study sessions (7) CLASSES {LASSES}<=>{Co...e}

22 European ruler and a teetotaller, Ali is confused (6) ATTILA {A}{TT}{ALI*}

24 Egg preparation from East European motel having a piece of tomato (8) OMELETTE {E+Eu...n+MOTEL}* over {To...o} Anind? Semi-&lit?

26 Darkish sort, carrying duke's computer storage device (4,4) HARD DISK {DARKISH}* over {D}

28 King's wife is in clutches of devious adder (6) EDWARD {ED{W}ARD}

30 Brandish wand to get sunrise (4) DAWN*

31 Engaged in terminus evacuation (2,3) IN USE [T]

32 Injured slow birds (4) OWLS*

DOWN

1   Grain exported from Argentina transported for Sicilian summit (4) ETNA {argENTinA}*

2   Chief revolutionary has a migraine, for example (8) HEADACHE {HEAD}{CHE} over {A}

3   Talk about the French summer hut used by herders (6) CHALET {CHA{LE}T}

4   Jumped parole taking dead animal (7) LEOPARD {PAROLE}*{D}

5   Mad chap with Amnesty International rejected by California (8) MANIACAL {MAN}{AI<=}{CAL}

6   American fuel may be of assistance (6) USEFUL {US}{FUEL*}

7   Power source in jail? (4) CELL [DD]

14 First lady at book function (5) EVENT {EVE}{NT}

16 Put in effort and uproot tree around ten (5) EXERT {E{X}ERT*}

18 Silly Vice Admiral drops ace for Putin, perhaps (8) VLADIMIR {VIce+aDMIRAL}*

20 She gets redwood after dropping 28 in forest (8) SHERWOOD {SHE}{RedWOOD}

21 Calculate and exercise (7) WORKOUT [DD]

23 I... I love and feast... (6) IODINE {I}{O}{DINE}

25 The Spanish girl gets name for cricket team (6) ELEVEN {EL}{EVE}{N}

27 A Washington Yankee is out (4) AWAY {A}{WA}{Y}

29 River next to city bank (4) RELY {R}{ELY}

Reference List

Male = M, Charlie = C, Teetotaller = TT, East = E, European = E, Duke = D, Wife = W, Revolutionary = CHE(Guevra), The in French = LE, Dead = D, Book = NT(New Testament), Edward = ED, The in Spanish = EL, Name = N, Yankee = Y, River = R