No 12858, Friday 14 Feb 2020, Arden

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

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ACROSS
1   Chartered men to play the game (5-4,5)  THREE-CARD MONTE*

10 Snake dance? (5) TWIST [DD]
11 Site for bric-a-brac (9) NOVELTIES {TIES}* [RA]
12 Bedtime, get home — it will protect your head (7) BASINET {BAS{IN}E}{T}

13 Carries everyday — what’s inside the wind catcher? (7) LUGSAIL {LUGS}{dAILy}
14 Expect to take note over time (5) EPOCH {H{C}OPE}<=
16 Stop a child playing inside canopy (9) BALDACHIN {BA{A+CHILD}*N}

19 One who likes milk takes part in making cheese (9) CAMEMBERT {CA{MEMBER}T}

20 Go ahead — secret tips for a rendezvous (5) TRYST {TRY}{SecreT}
22 One did have choice over operating system (7) ANDROID {AN}{D{OR<=}ID}
25 In a defensive position — becomes enraged (2,5) EN GARDE*
27 A no man’s island, right? Wrong, it’s landlocked (3,6) SAN MARINO {A+NO+MANS+I+R}*

28 Throughway in view (5) VISTA {VI{ST}A}
29 Managed to cheer him — see, he is enamoured by it! (4,6,4) COME HITHER LOOK {TO+CHEER+HIM}*{LOOK}

DOWN
2   Right to stop catcalls before it comes down hard (9) HAILSTORM {TO{R}M}<=>{HAILS}
3   Had bowled before, was thrashed (5) EATEN bEATEN
4   100 on 9 for an artist (9) CONSTABLE {C}{ON}{STABLE}
5   Both sides receive praise from French composer (5) RAVEL {R}{AVE}{L}
6   It’s dangerous to denigrate the worker (9) MALIGNANT {MALIGN}{ANT}
7   Money raised — taking somewhat contrarian view (5) NAIRA [T<=]
8   Character’s speech disorder shows up in time (7) EPSILON {E{LISP<=}ON}
9   Solid book, worn out (6) STABLE {STA{B}LE}
15 Doctor’s in, work at hospital later... (9) HOMEOPATH {HOME}{OP}{AT}{H}
17 ...doctor is home, let’s get supple (9) LITHESOME {IS+HOME+LET}*
18 They don’t have time to change poster — happens suddenly (3,6) HEY PRESTO {tHEY}{POSTER*}
19 Vintage drink, to be taken in small quantity (7) CLASSIC {C{LASSI}C}
21 Drill bit in the centre panel (6) TREPAN [T]
23 Material dug up from below (5) DENIM<=
24 Key fault with tenor (5) DRIFT {D}{RIFT}
26 Awarded by law, judge can strike it down (5) GAVEL {GAVE}{L}

Reference List
Time = T, Home = IN, Note = C, Island = I, Right = R, Way = ST, Bowled = B, 100 = C, Sides = R, L, Book = B, Hospital = H, Key = D, Law = L

Dr RKE's TalePiece

The Duke of CAMEMBERT, holidaying in SAN MARINO, was playing the THREE CARD MONTE in a casino. He was distracted by a LITHESOME woman dressed in DENIM, standing under the BALDACHIN, with a COME HITHER LOOK. His thoughts DRIFTed about a secret TRYST with her and all on a sudden, his face became TWISTed. He had a HAILSTORM of grand mal seizures and became comatose. A CONSTABLE, in a BASINET, who was EN GARDE, rushed him to the ER. He had a CT scan of the brain, which unRAVELed a CLASSIC case of subdural hematoma. Dr.RKE, the neurosurgeon, TREPANned his skull and, HEY PRESTO, the clot was out and the Duke's condition became STABLE. He improved enough to text that woman on his ANDROID phone later that night! Thank God, it wasn't anything MALIGNANT. And also thank God, the EPOCH of the HOMEOPATH had ended and the NOVELTIES of modern medicine had taken over.