Answers

OQ #26:

1. Vladimir Putin. I leave it to Shiva to explain the funda as a comment :)

cracked by Sticky, 2D, Omkar, Meena and myself.

2. NASA's 4 Great Observatories (all of which are space-based) are named after them.

a. Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar
b. Edwin Hubble
c. Arthur Holly Compton
d. Lyman Spitzer
In chronological order of launch, Hubble-Compton-Chandra-Spitzer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Observatories_program

cracked only by Sticky.

3. Venky's Chicken buyout of the Blackburn Rovers.

cracked by Sticky, Sundaram, Arjun and Omkar.

OQ #27

1. Etiquette Angels, or Asian Angels, whose job is to escort VIP's to present the medals to the winners at the ongoing Asian games.

cracked by Praveen, Sundaram, Mudassir and Arjun Murali.

2. Director Raja, who rechristened himself Myshkin after the character Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin from the novel The Idiot.

cracked by Sourabh, Sticky, Sundaram and Shtud boy.

LVC:

1. Hermaphroditus, the Greek deity of bisexuality and effeminacy.

2. Draco the Lawgiver, the first legislator of ancient Athens, known for his harshness.

3. Harold Pinter, the playwright.

4. stamp representing Thespis, the first person to appear on stage as an actor (according to Aristotle).

5. Monty Python

6. Mercury, Roman god of trade.

7. Nicolas Chauvin, the possibly fictional soldier in Napoleon's army.

8. Gargantua, from the Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel, 16th century novel series written by François Rabelais.

9. Niccolò Machiavelli.

10. Satan.

11. Bronze statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, at the Plaza de España, Madrid.

12. what's blanked out: Thomas Bowdler.

Answer: Sources of eponymous words.

1. Hermaphrodite (a plant or animal that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes)

2. Draconian (qualifies a rule as being of great severity)

3. Pinteresque (reminiscent of the plays of Harold Pinter, noted for their equivocal and halting dialogue)

4. Thespian (an actor)

5. Pythonesque (derived from the humour of Monty Python)

6. Mercurial (changeable, volatile, erratic)

7. Chauvinism (fanatical patriotism)

8. Gargantuan (of immense size)

9. Machiavellian (characterized by cunning, deceit, duplicity)

10. Satanic (extremely evil or cruel)

11. Quixotic (exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic, impractical)

12. Bowdlerize (emove material that is considered improper or offensive from a text or account, with the result that it becomes weaker or less effective)

went uncracked.