No 12897, Tuesday 31 Mar 2020, Incognito

Day 7 of 21 Stay safe at home

ACROSS
8   Left harbour (4) PORT [DD]
9   Unflappable Scot sails around island (5) STOIC {STO{I}C*}
10 Judge Bill (4) BEAK [DD]
11 Perry is worried about a plea (6) PRAYER {PR{A}YER*}
12 Nobleman’s tennis venue? That's right (8) COURTIER {COURT}{IE}{R}
13 Luftwaffe or RAF use this and broadcast prisoner of war note and sector at last (3,5) AIR POWER {AIR}{POW}{E}{s...oR}
15 Accept tailless donkey despatched (6) ASSENT {ASs}{SENT}
17 Animal that may be part hen (7) PANTHER*

19 Towed dinghy to some extent for marriage ceremony (7) WEDDING [T]
22 A mobile telephone component, with outgoing voice-calls at first, for sci-fi writer (6) ASIMOV {A}{SIM}{Ou...g}{Vo..e}
24 Large deficit in fuel (8) COLOSSAL {CO{LOSS}AL}
26 Spanish media get one round of coffee (8) ESPRESSO {ES}{PRESS}{O}
28 It may be used to construct or destroy moat around rear of manor by middle of March (6) MORTAR {MO{m..oR}TA*}{maRch}
30 Dr. No returns satellite? (4) MOON {MO}{NO<=}
31 Stick with its end cut-off is attached to ring with a bit of nickel to produce a tiny particle? (5) GLUON {GLUe}{O}{Ni...l}
32 Ogle endlessly, matinee idol (4) STAR STARe

DOWN
1   In five, the number visible to a Roman (4) FOUR {fIVe}
2   Saint builds stupa around beginning of year and remains in same place (5,3) STAYS PUT {ST}{A{Year}SPUT*}
3   So crew is organised to create account to keep money in trust (6) ESCROW*
4   Study The European Organization for Nuclear Research for business enterprise (7) CONCERN {CON}{CERN}
5   Correct account by clergyman (8) ACCURATE {AC}{CURATE}
6   Sailor eats haphazardly and goes down (6) ABATES {AB}{EATS*}
7   To some extent, an American title (4) NAME [T]
14 Leaders of prayers set out aims around start of the month (5) IMAMS {IMA{Mo..h}S*}
16 Camouflaged assassin in Japan? (5) NINJA [T] &lit
18 Imagine English travel permit giving name at last (8) ENVISAGE {EN}{VISA}{g...nG}{namE}
20 Princess’s hair results in agony (8) DISTRESS {DI'S}{TRESS}
21 Executive committee record contains upper class Eastern poem (7) ECLOGUE {EC}{LOG}{U}{E}
23 Airman flies around 8 (6) MARINA*
25 Damaged melons and fruits (6) LEMONS*
27 Silence before rounds! Go away! (4) SHOO {SH}{OO}
29 Partly open one container (4) AJAR {A}{JAR}

Reference List
Island = I, Right = R, Note = E, Spanish = ES, Doctor = MO, Sailor = AB, English = EN, Princess = DI, Executive committee = EC, Upper class = U, Eastern = E

Dr RKE's TalePiece

SENIOR LOVE

Isaac was  the harbour master of the Chennai PORT (he still called it by its anglicised NAME,  Madras). His residence was a depressing brick and MORTAR quarters built during the British days. He had been in this house since his WEDDING and his wife was STOIC about STAYing PUT there till he retired, which was FOUR years away. The bond between them had been strong, as if they had been held together by some invisible  GLUONs. 

Though, of late, she preferred spending her time in PRAYER. No longer did she take a walk on the MARINA, gazing at the STARs and MOON, holding her husband's hand as she used to do in the past. No more of their evening outing to an eatery on the Beach Road, where he would have his ESPRESSO and she, her LEMON juice. Her CONCERN was the COLOSSAL loss she had made in her inexpert forays into stock market investments, something she had done without his ASSENT, falling for the sales pitch of the portfolio adviser from PANTHER investments. The so-called blue chip stocks the adviser had ENVISAGED had tumbled when the Sensex tanked by 5000 points in a single day. 

Her DISTRESS was hightened by the indifferent attitude of Isaac, who non-chalantly played NINJA warriors or read an ASIMOV sci-fi novel, whenever she tried pouring out her heart to him. An IMAM from the Saifee Mosque, a long time friend of the family, came during one such moment and heard them talking as the door was AJAR. The perspicacious Imam made an ACCURATE assessment of the situation and counseled them. Issac no longer SHOOed his wife away when she came to seek solace and she, on her part, became more mature in her investment decisions.  The bond which had threatened to ABATE became stronger and the spark was re-kindled.