Crossword for Saturday 12 September 2026

Across

1. 1. Word that comes up when talking about beers or bunnies
2. 5. Fruit with juicy white flesh
3. 9. Cut and polish for a novel, say
4. 10. Either a long one or a sharp one is usually bad
5. 11. Where finders are not keepers, though the name says otherwise
6. 12. Amusing in a cave, vital to a submarine
7. 13. (Hindi) Controversial November pollutant
8. 15. "Don't just hear, _____"
9. 19. 22A's first international wicket involved this
10. 22. Gujarat Titans coach
11. 23. Make use of, as we do an offer, say
12. 25. abbr. The service behind a salary slip's TDS
13. 26. The RGV, Shekhar Kapur and Mani Ratnam collab, 'from the heart'
14. 27. Decay
15. 28. ____ of the valley
16. 29. Canada ___, the "Cool, Cool Canada" drink

Down

1. 1. Cannabis variety without the high
2. 2. Dominant language in India's iron-ore belt
3. 3. A measure for beer, often mispronounced to rhyme with mint
4. 4. Lead-in to deal, for a bargain
5. 5. You can make it pretty if it doesn't work the first time
6. 6. abbr. 7-member laugh troupe of the 2010s
7. 7. What 13A leaves on the ground
8. 8. abbr. Org testing your road suitability, in a way
9. 14. Coca-Cola's unflavoured, flat offering
10. 16. The charm comes on this try
11. 17. Progeny of a bug
12. 18. Word before fall, accident or cold
13. 19. A boy, to a Brit
14. 20. Live, backwards
15. 21. (Hindi) Narrow lane where a Bollywood hero usually first sees the heroine
16. 24. abbr. Football's IPL counterpart