| NEHRA | Indian cricketer, Ashish ..... (change the final vowel and you have the name of India's first PM) (5) |
| ADITYA | Name of India's first solar mission, which recently achieved its final orbital destination (6) |
| BATTLESHIP | It may have the name of a state |
| LAUNCHPAD | Countdown supporter's vigorous handclap taking in the final vowel |
| GOA | Found in a word for an aim/target, billy/nanny and also a prodding poking stick to drive and instigate, the name of India's smallest state (3) |
| VAYU | Part of the name of India's airpower exercise at Pokhran (4) |
| ATTENDEES | They're present, where the final vowels are? (9) |
| ENTIRELY | Change the final try line completely (8) |
| UPSHOT | Push to change the final outcome (6) |
| NEHRU | Independent India's first PM (5) |
| DARN | And you have the right to mend your socks |
| WITSOF | "And you have the ___ a goose"--George R.R. Martin |
| ELENI | 1985 movie (which starts with a vowel and ends with a vowel) for Canadian actress Kate Nelligan |
| BREVE | Shows a short vowel and holds for two bars (5) |
| SPA | Place whose name has an appropriate final vowel sound |
| ELIDE | Cut off, as a final vowel |
| SEMIVOWEL | Speech sound intermediate between a vowel and a consonant (9) |
| LUMUMBA | The first PM of the Congo Republic, forced out of office after a few months, and later killed (7) |
| SURYAKUMAR | First name of India's captain who led the team to the 2026 T20 World Cup victory. (10) |
| CONSONANT | Any of the 21 speech sounds in the English language, other than vowels, and the letters representing |
