No 12336, Wednesday 06 Jun 2018, Afterdark

ACROSS
9   Direction on a note for newborn infant... (7) NEONATE {NE}{ON}{A}{TE|
10 ... to rouse on a cut-off at close to nine (7) ACTUATE {A}{CUT*}{AT}{ninE}
11 At the end, gangster crowds essentially arrive at non-profit organization — an action that harms oneself (3,4) OWN GOAL {crOWds}{NGO}{AL}
12 Banal writer with passion is upset (7) HACKNEY {HACK}{YEN*}
13 Damaged boat repaired by expert all around on date (9) SABOTAGED {SA{BOAT*}GE}{D}
15 Exciting Sunday's key at the end of the day (5) SALTY {S}{ALT}{daY}
16 Mother and aunts trained gelding and horse (7) MUSTANG {M}{AUNTS*}{G}
19 Prof often took interest on journalist who's striking (7) POINTED {PrOf}{INT}{ED}
20 Start vehicle and put it in a corner (5) SCARE {S{CAR}E}
21 A long short story that's fresh, but gets dry after 6th chapter and routine at the end (9) NOVELETTE {NOVEL}{c...tEr}{TT}{thE}
25 Launch's 50% faster in catching small marine creature (7) LOBSTER {LOB}{S}{fasTER}
26 After gin cocktail, watchman strips uniform and becomes cheap (7) NIGGARD {GIN*}{GuARD}
28 Merciful member about to replace evil leader (7) CLEMENT (-e+c)CLEMENT
29 Associate is an awful creep, steals ring and money (7) COMPEER {C{O}{M}PEER*}

DOWN
1   Rent essentially provided by American economist with school grants (6) ENDOWS {rENt}{DOW}{S}
2   Mingle with homeless without direction and provide Bible (6) HOBNOB {HOB{N}O}{B}
3   To arrive in plant... (4) TARO {T{AR}O} I though Arrive is normally ARR

4   ...with disturbed body rhythm at Japan, messed up, late at midnight (3,3) JET LAG {J}{LATE*}{niGht}
5   Saying about a man's a fool is mostly no longer useful (6-2) WASHED-UP {SAW<=}{HE}{DUPe}
6   Scott kills Harry — becomes lifeless (5-5) STOCK-STILL*
7   Challenge was good, initially absorbing up to the time one walked out bearing half the debt (8) GAUNTLET {G}{Ab...g}{UNTiL}{ET} How is ET half of Debt or if E is bearing how is T half the debt?
8   Naive indeed, wife is stuck with unknown middlemen on day's end (4-4) DEWY-EYED {DE{W}{Y}-{mEn}{daY}ED}
14 Tall stories on attempts to hide an undergarment (10) TRAVESTIES {TR{A}{VEST}IES}
16 A special herb, mother put on top; it was put in a wrong position (8) MISPLACE {M}{1}{SP}{LACE}
17 Grisham blesses characters in mess (8) SHAMBLES [T]
18 Data speed is an impediment to electronic form (8) GENERATE {GEN}{E}{RATE}
22 City of sin, sucks energy by noon (6) VENICE {V{E}{N}ICE}
23 Time to ramble online and go on a trip (6) TRAVEL {T}{RAVE}{L}
24 Stand in boundary, make four into two, field essentially (6) ENDURE {END}{foUR}{fiEld}
27 Off and on grew musk on stones (4) GEMS {GrEw+MuSk}

GRID

Bhargav's Talepiece

The bouncer and the dancer - Part 55

CLEMENT Blake the bouncer was found sitting DEWY EYED in his restaurant after returning from a trip to VENICE. SALTY tears ran down his cheeks.

LOBSTER in front of him on the table did not interest him.

TRAVEL had made him wiser. He had been given GEMS of wisdom by a COMPEER who had POINTED out certain developments in Shangri-la. His OWN GOAL of amassing wealth had been kind of SABOTAGED by the late night dances at Gemini.

MUST ANGst ruin him? Of course not. He will ENDURE it no more! How could dance performances SCARE him?  He will soon make NIGGARDS in Shangri-la shell out money like mad!!