| RICEMOTHER | The ___, 2002 novel by Rani Manicka (4,6) |
| MURDERBOOK | The ___, 2002 novel by Jonathan Kellerman (6,4) |
| SHORE | Kafka on the ___ 2002 novel by Haruki Murakami which received the World Fantasy Award in 2006 |
| AUTOGRAPHMAN | The ___, 2002 novel by Zadie Smith (9,3) |
| TEAROSE | The ___, 2002 novel by Jennifer Donnelly (3,4) |
| EXFACTOR | The ___, 2002 novel by Andrea Semple (2-6) |
| GREEN | The ___, 2002 novel by Frederic Tuten (5,4) |
| SCAR | The ___, 2002 novel by China Mieville (4) |
| BANYANTREE | Producer of fruit eaten by rani, mostly cooked |
| ADVENTURES | The ___, 2002 film comedy starring Eddie Murphy in the title role (10,2,5,4) |
| KALAHARI | 13, 6 and 15 Across The ___, 2002 novel by Alexander McCall Smith (8,6,6,3,3) |
| FAIL | Without ___ 2002 novel written by Lee Child in which Jack Reacher helps Mary Ellen Froelich protect the Vice-President-Elect |
| MOLE | "The Bureau and the ___" (2002 Times best seller by David A. Vise) |
| UNRESTRAINABLE | Unable to be held back by rani, subaltern bashed earl (14) |
| TALE | Living to Tell the ___ 2002 book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that was the first volume of his autobiography |
| PIANIST | The ___, 2002 drama film based on the memoir of Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman (7) |
| ROYALTENENBAUMS | The ___, 2002 film about an eccentric New York family, directed by Wes Anderson (5,10) |
| RING | The ___, 2002 horror film starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson (4) |
| WIRE | "The ___"; 2002-08 HBO crime drama series |
| HOURS | The ___, 2002 film drama starring Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf (5) |
