No 12312, Wednesday 09 May 2018, Neyartha

Geography class by Neyartha.

ACROSS
7   Speaker's stocky? Department provides space for a lunch in the park (6,4) PICNIC AREA (~ ??){PICNIC} {AREA} Anno pending (Addendum - (~ pyknic){PICNIC} {AREA}- See comments)
9   Meeting arranged in advance to get a fruit (4) DATE [DD]
10 Writer is yet to get adjusted to the inclusion of a fool from the east (9) ESSAYIST {ASS<=} in {IS+YET}*
11 A bit of the ghee hawked with a loud laugh (3-3) HEE-HAW [T]
12 Pair sent back to capture the Spanish revolutionary's young bird (5) OWLET {T{EL<=}WO<=}
13 Without hesitation, removed article on deregulation disaster showing a GPS coordinates component (9) LONGITUDE DerEGULaTION*
14 A timber tree hiding American uranium? That's not a surprise! (2,5) AS USUAL {A}{S{US}{U}AL}
17 Clear up after universal solution is ruled out (7) UNRAVEL {UNiVERsAL}*
20 Approving the redesigned ad layout featuring a king... (9) LAUDATORY {R} in {AD+LAYOUT}*
22 ...for a much so}ught-after broadcast time (5) PRIME [C&DD]
25 Loan shark rendering coup leader powerless (6) USURER USURpER
26 Anger over help from the right in Minnesota summit (8) MERIDIAN {M{IRE<=}{AID<=}N}
27 Business requiring a collateral of sorts after the Oriental steps back (4) LINE LI(-e)N(+e)E
28 Activated an electrical connection for the revolutionary participating in a riotous sit-down (8,2) SWITCHED ON {CHE} in {SIT DOWN}*

DOWN
1   Puzzle in pieces? (6) JIGSAW [CD]
2   Bitter leaders of the Arunachal Congress rallying in Delhi (5) ACRID Acrostic
3   Applause after Victor makes way for the king's formal speech (7) ORATION O(-v++r)RATION
4   Dangerous microbe in the shape of a heptagon (8) PATHOGEN*
5   Long-awaited arrival of the month preceding Christmas (6) ADVENT [DD]
6   Holy man climbing on top of the damaged ladder to sit on the fence (8) STRADDLE {ST}{LADDER*}
8   Cleans up corrupt senate by putting a new leader at the top (7) NEATENS {New}{SENATE*}
15 Blind a bird, say, and hide an Eskimo's waterproof wear (8) SEALSKIN (~ ??) SEAL{SKIN} Anno pending (addendum - (~ seel){SEAL}{SKIN} - See comments)
16 Query about different tiers revealing a sign of times for programmers (8) ASTERISK {AS{TIERS*}K}
18 Decline to accept marriage participant's detailed contract (7) ABRIDGE {A{BRIDe}GE}
19 Krypton found by Mike inside the African river sent north to a Russian citadel (7) KREMLIN {KR}{E{M}LIN<=}
21 Obscure red ark enlarged to some extent (6) DARKEN [T]
23 Eurasian gull spotted around a party in the field (6) MEADOW {ME{A}{DO}W}
24 Flower-bearing leaf from a follower appearing for the first time in the area (5) BRACT (-t+b)BRACT

By Sannse - en.wikipedia.org: 19:07, 5. Jun 2004 . . Sannse (Talk) . . 700x925 (197710 Byte) (Yellow-rattle ), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

GRID

Bhargav's Talepiece

The bouncer and the dancer - Part 30

The boatman STRADDLED on his seat and happily SWITCHED ON the motor. His speedboat SPED on a straight LINE to the other side of the lake near a PICNIC AREA.

He then spoke to a cabbie known to him and asked him to take threesome through a shortcut via A BRIDGE in the nearby MEADOW and not "AS USUAL" promising him that the payment will be doubled.

In this JIGSAW another piece: Elsewhere in KREMLIN someone is delivering an ORATION in which the name of SMITH figures. Is it Sunder Smith??