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Across
Down
Opening puzzle…
Restless Leela Mehta · Saturday, 17 January 2026 · Ahhhh!
January 2026
Saturday,
17 January 2026
0:00
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Across
1.
State that sits in 6-Across's ocean and treats traffic like a suggestion (6)
6.
City whose zoo has better weather than your last three holidays (3, 5)
9.
Pacific giant on a 1-Across postcard, or what you do when the story gets better (5)
11.
Note after re, or Mumbai Indians if the IPL is on (2)
12.
Nintendo handheld that ate the commute, or doctors if rounds have started (2)
14.
What 16-Across does every January, and what a passport does if you ask nicely (6)
16.
What 14-Across does to itself; also what a grandmaster plays a hundred of (4)
18.
Hindi for speed, yelled at the autorickshaw that finally moved (4)
19.
Steamed rice cake that quietly judges your sambar (4)
20.
Aunty who already knows your CTC, or the doctors' union (3)
22.
Stretch of time; 3-Down is having a golden one (3)
23.
Spiky plants that make 6-Across look like a desert postcard (6)
25.
Tea boiled with ginger, cardamom, and opinions (4)
29.
What you type when it isn't that funny (3)
30.
Like the Ganges, or the basil a pizza uses to look expensive (4)
31.
Gujarat factory town that was going to sell you a car for a lakh (6)
34.
Maximum-likelihood, to the cousin who did a stats elective (3)
35.
Conjunction that turns a queue into a reason (3)
36.
Passport that collects stamps and guilt in equal measure — and yes, it's on the grid twice (3)
37.
What you lend a gossip, or a corn thing (3)
38.
Le Corbusier's city, where the Capitol Complex outstares the heat (10)
Down
1.
What your cousin's wedding video is shot in, and still somehow shaky (2)
2.
What 3-Down does with a knight, or the messenger that outlived its chat rooms (3)
3.
Chinese GM whose name is two syllables and a warning (3, 2)
4.
Silver, to a chemist who still pays in rupees (2)
5.
Of iodine, to the chemist who still says tincture (5)
6.
Bay Area city Intel moved into and the valley never left (5, 5)
7.
Toward the sheltered side, which 8-Down has plenty of (4)
8.
Country whose birds can't fly and whose rugby players never stop (3, 7)
9.
Writer, in the credits, or Western Railway on an old ticket (2)
10.
Pronoun the aunties use for the son who sends the remittance (2)
13.
Honorific on a Chennai wedding card (3)
15.
Gentlemen, or what you call the uncles who all became doctors (4)
17.
Every puzzle's favourite short name, or what you do to a draft (2)
20.
Forever, in a folksong, or yes if you are on a ship (2)
21.
Greek letter that sounds like a cow with a degree (2)
24.
The opposite of a pro, or a trick the family WhatsApp would see coming (3)
25.
Switzerland on a jumper, or church on a cornerstone (2)
26.
Simpson, or a ball that leaves the park and the conversation (5)
27.
The name in the azaan (5)
28.
Tamil Brahmin surname, or the uncle who corrects your Tamil (4)
31.
Fifth note, if you learned it from a nun and not from 11-Across (3)
32.
Passport that collects stamps and guilt in equal measure — and yes, it's on the grid twice (3)
33.
Cricket shot along the ground, or what you say when 3-Down's name finally clicks (3)
35.
Football club, or the fibre your uncle still doesn't have (2)