No 12554, Wednesday 20 Feb 2019, Incognito

ACROSS
8   Eatery in Delhi is without heating, to start with (4) DELI DELhI
9   Meets English nobleman with eastern money (10) ENCOUNTERS {EN}{COUNT}{E}{RS}
10 Igloo collapsed around girl's male escort (6) GIGOLO {GI{G}OLO*}
11 Wide road popular with theatre-goers (8) BROADWAY {BROAD}{WAY}

12 Thick letters from brave at front (4,4) BOLD FACE {BOLD}{FACE}
14 Artists hide magician's stick in country (6) RWANDA {R{WAND}A}

16 Luminous body seen in some farthest areas (4) STAR [T]
17 Hark! Lost part's deep inside (5) HEART {HEAR}{losT}
18 Inter in English town (4) BURY [DD]
19 Firebug expels son in favour of model painter (6) ARTIST AR{-son+t}TIST
21 Kyoto Polo gymkhana's contribution to a branch of maths (8) TOPOLOGY [T]
23 Summary of something existing in thought but without physical existence (8) ABSTRACT [DD]
26 Putting fastener in gear part and managing (6) COPING {CO{PIN}G}
27 Heard store is renovated for animal business (5,5) HORSE TRADE*
28 Bank on impure lying characters partly (4) RELY [T]

DOWN
1   The police are travelling first part of ride in chopper (10) HELICOPTER {THE+POLICE}*{Ride}
2   Detective Inspector's command leads to confusion (8) DISORDER {DI'S}{ORDER}
3   Bengali? Or, a Spanish lady? (6) SENORA {SEN}{OR}{A}
4   Protective crust over wound formed by skin cells and blood initially (4) SCAB Acrostic
5   Actuator may become a despot (8) AUTOCRAT*
6   Ancient measure of distance between sporting venues? (6) STADIA [DD]
7   Killer whale commonly seen in Majorca and Minorca (4) ORCA [T]
13 Correct previous part of drama (5) EXACT {EX}{ACT}
15 Scottish dagger carefully handled for Douglas Adams's detective (4,6) DIRK GENTLY {DIRK}{GENTLY}
17 Stolen trousers or short shorts? (3,5) HOT PANTS {HOT}{PANTS}

18 Rough estimate that can be made at playground? (8) BALLPARK [DD]
20 To be exceptional, one has to have a score of at least 120 in this trial led by setter and Bond's gizmo supplier (1,1,4) I Q TEST {I}{Q}{TEST}
22 Fairchild's aircraft cost a lot of money (6) PACKET [DD]
24 Reserve reading material (4) BOOK [DD]
25 Reverse shop vehicle (4) TRAM <=

Bhargav's Talepiece

VANI !

Vani had no HEART to study diligently. One who is likely to score low in an IQ TEST, the EXACT reason for her to join IIM was to get a good catch.

She had difficulties in COPING with her studies but was seen hopping around campus in HOT PANTS, eager for some close ENCOUNTERS with Paul. 

Her BALLPARK estimate of the wealth of Paul's family was not very much off the mark and she wished to one day become SENORA Paul.

But at present times the position of her STARS was in DISORDER....

What happened next?

GRID