No 12893, Thursday 26 Mar 2020, Arden

Day 2 of 21 Stay safe at home

ACROSS

1   Sacked right away after PM made changes (8) MODIFIED {MODI}{FIrED}

5   Maybe lethargic after unscrewing the bulb (6) GARLIC LethARGIC*

10 “Follow anonymously” — One hears it in parts of Asia (7) TAGALOG {TAG ALOnG}

11 Kind of protein — it’s back in style (7) ELASTIN {ELA{ITS<=}N}

12 Teacher rises and greets the holy man... (5) RISHI {SIR<=}{HI}

13 ...so that it’s tried on or off (2,5,2) IN ORDER TO*

14 Ready to book what’s found in a store (4,8) CASH REGISTER {CASH}{REGISTER}

18 Innocent chap moving vehicle (12) PANTECHNICON*

21 Country gets expert academician to check, target reviewed (9) MACEDONIA {ACE}{DON} in {AIM<=}

23 Taking care, team achieves excellence in Greece (5) ARETE [T]

24 I love to enter, criticize and keep away (7) ISOLATE {I}{S{0}LATE}

25 At first, we lie in wait perhaps (7) INITIAL Anno pending (Addendum - {LIe+IN+wAIT}* [CA] - See comments)

26 After midnight he went finally to the favela (6) GHETTO {niGht}{HE}{wenT}{TO}

27 All in one voice say “bliss at last in marriage!” (2,6) IN UNISON {IN}{UNI{b..sS}ON}

DOWN

1   Majesty, a true representation of age (6) MATURE {M}{A}{TRUE*}

2   Assimilate the summary (6) DIGEST [DD]

3   Rail almost complete, team informed (9) FULMINATE {FULl}{TEAM+IN}*

4   Educt two sections between UK and France (7,7) ENGLISH CHANNEL {ENGLISH}{CHANNEL}

6   A tie up gets recognition (5) AWARD {A}{DRAW<=}

7   Drunk? Time it’s taken up by the intelligentsia (8) LITERATI {LIT}{ERA}{IT<=}

8   Features to study, goes around later (8) CONTOURS {CON}{TOURS}

9   Government’s surprise decision — estimation done was wrong (14) DEMONETISATION* Semi&lit

15 Sit in a loo — another way to tackle Coronavirus (9) ISOLATION* &lit

16 Plans to go North, China is spreading useless information (8) SPAMMING {MAPS<=}{MING}

17 Starts entering confidential data into a memo, it’s related (8) ANECDOTE {A}{N{En...g}{Co...l}{Data}OTE}

19 Kind to admit one’s very brainy (6) GENIUS {GEN{1}US}

20 Conductor’s capital! (6) BERLIN [DD]

22 It gives you the depth, underneath is the pontoon (5) DRAFT {D}{RAFT} &lit

Reference List

Right = R, Love = 0, Majesty = M, E = English, Drunk = LIT, Study = CON, Depth = D

Dr RKE's TalePiece

DEMONETIZATION was a GENIUS move IN ORDER TO curb the flow of counterfeit currency that was SPAMMING the economy and to ISOLATE the black money. Agreed, there were INITIAL difficulties, especially for people in GHETTOs, who didn't have money to buy onion or GARLIC and ANECDOTEs of people in bank queues having heart attacks.  The so-called LITERATI, who could not DIGEST the abrupt manner of the move, FULMINATEd IN UNISON the PM and the RBI on the talkathons over the ENGLISH television CHANNELs. They pointed out how a similar measure had crippled MACEDONIA in the past. CASH REGISTERS stopped ringing and people had to switch to cheques, DRAFTs and cards. The police would stop any PANTECHNICON plying at night to check for the demonetised notes being taken to be converted to new notes. The finance secretary did his best to break the BERLIN wall of opposition but the PM maintained a RISHI like silence after having dropped the bombshell on 8.11.2016. Even a TAGALOG newspaper from Manila, hailed the ARETE of the Indian economic experiment. The people were MATURE enough to bear their difficulty and AWARDed the PM with a resounding win in the next election. A wag quipped that the CONTOURS of the Indian economy had become "MODI"FIED for ever.