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Opening puzzle…
Maveli's Annual Leave · Saturday, 29 August 2026 · Ahhhh!
August 2026
Saturday,
29 August 2026
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Across
1.
They're laid ring after ring in a pookalam at the door (6)
6.
Vendakka, or ladies' finger, in the sambar (4)
9.
Regret that fourth helping (3)
10.
Weigh in, as the uncles always will (5)
12.
Floor space swept clean before the flowers go down (4)
14.
A long way off, as the Gulf cousins are for most of the year (4)
15.
Recurring element in a design (5)
17.
Blockbuster festival release (5)
20.
Tiny insect-eater with a pointed snout (5)
22.
'I couldn't eat another bite,' say (3)
24.
Maveli, formally, home on his yearly leave from the underworld (8)
27.
'Out ___ the blue' (2)
28.
Yoga pose, best not attempted straight after lunch (5)
29.
Ada ___ palada? The only right answer is both (2)
30.
Glove for lifting a hot pot (4)
31.
The one word you can't say to a third helping (2)
33.
Asuras are supposed to be this; Maveli was a shining exception (4)
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Its pickle claims a corner of the sadya leaf (5)
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Edges of steel tumblers (4)
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Lion's collar (4)
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'Come and ___ the flower carpet!' (3)
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Kheer's southern cousin, ladled out near the end of a sadya (7)
Down
1.
It's pushed, with a baby aboard (4)
2.
Money in Madrid or Milan (5)
3.
They ache after an extra ladle of sweet pradhaman (5)
4.
'Look!', King James style (2)
5.
Retreat for an Ayurvedic oil massage (3)
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Harvest festival that ends with a king's homecoming (4)
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State whose name is often taken to mean 'land of coconuts' (6)
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Morning hours spent grating coconut, briefly (2)
11.
No ___, ands or buts (3)
13.
Posts greeting cards overseas, the old-fashioned way (8)
16.
A sadya, in plain English (5)
18.
Tower for the harvest (4)
19.
Grandmother's kasavu sari, passed down (8)
21.
'___ a spread!' (4)
23.
They pull together in a snake boat, keeping time to the song (6)
25.
Article before 'appam' or 'avial' (2)
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Its leaf serves as the plate (6)
30.
Act without words, as a Kathakali dancer does (4)
32.
Singles (4)
34.
Compete for the Nehru Trophy on Punnamada Lake (3)
35.
Month before the monsoon breaks (3)
37.
Amma's informal English counterpart (2)