No 12899, Thursday 02 Apr 2020, Lightning

Day 9 of 21 Stay safe at home

ACROSS
1   Note to oneself to leave out a residue (8) REMINDER REMaINDER
5   Mark around a line — it has no direction (6) SCALAR {SC{A}{L}AR}
9   A cold urn recast to a heating pot (8) CAULDRON*
10 Joins with Tesla perhaps on energy savings primarily (6) UNITES {UNIT}{E}{Sa...s}
12 Left one article to be flexible (5) LITHE {L}{1}{THE}
13 Change religious instruction, replacing chapter on time devoted to pleasure (9) VARIATION VA(-c+ri)RIATION
14 Old copper mostly abundant in round window (6) OCULUS {O}{CU}{LUSh}

16 Newton breaks through after some time with new light source (7) LANTERN {LA{N}TER}{N}
19 Traitor’s primary motive for disloyalty (7) TREASON {Tr...r}{REASON}
21 Military unit surrounding Uruguay’s capital (6) CORPUS {CORP{Ur...y}S}
23 Heartless chap cutting plant to deal with rotating device (9) GYROSCOPE {GuY}{ROSe}{COPE}
25 Conduct a meeting with position of authority (5) CHAIR [DD]
26 Periodically make illegal housing area (6) ANNUAL {ANNU{A}L}
27 Attack a new vision in a bad way (8) INVASION {A+N+VISION}*
28 Must rend your masks to be fashionable (6) TRENDY [T]
29 Certain that society can break agreement (8) DESTINED {DE{S}{TIN}ED}

DOWN
1   Remember recreation with everyone (6) RECALL {REC}{ALL}
2   Necessity protecting old long walrus for one (9) MOUSTACHE {M{O}UST}{ACHE}

3   Overt about primarily gentle push (5) NUDGE {NUD{Ge...e}E}
4   Gradually progresses in orbits missing radius (7) EVOLVES rEVOLVES
6   Vessel’s inner coat deformed (9) CONTAINER*
7   Machine removed end of one club (5) LATHI {LATHe}{1}
8   By mistake new tenors are producing echoing sounds (8) RESONANT {N+TENORS+A}*
11 Spoken with morale partly (4) ORAL [T]
15 Ultimate support for a military situation against overwhelming odds (4,5) LAST STAND {LAST}{STAND}
17 Auctioned building for schooling program (9) EDUCATION*
18 Deer bitten at the tail by insect becomes motionless (8) STAGNANT {STAG}{b...eN}{ANT}
20 PM leaving after midday (4) NOON afterNOON]
21 Rely on saint entering church to purify (7) CLEANSE {C{LEAN}{S}E}
22 Cut partially dried fruit by diameter (6) PRUNED {PRUNE}{D}
24 Managed grand European series (5) RANGE {RAN}{G}{E}
25 Charge to go around a seaside land (5) COAST {CO{A}ST}

Reference List
Line = L, Energy = E, Left = L, Religious Instruction = RI, Chapter = C, Old = O, Newton = N, New = N, Uruguay = U, Area = A, Society = S, Radius = R, Are = A, Saint = S, Church = CE, Diameter = D, Grand = G, European = E

Dr RKE's TalePiece

"The COAST is clear" cried out the deckhand, watching out through the OCULUS on the port side of the ship. The GYROSCOPE mounted RANGEfinder indicated that they were only a nautical mile from their target, which was the fan beam LANTERN of the lighthouse. This was planned as the first step in the INVASION of the island nation by the revolutionaries. They wanted to CLEANSE the counry from the evils of a dictatorial regime, one that denied its citizens basic rights like EDUCATION. The STAGNANT economy was fast turning the nation into a CAULDRON of political unrest. The leader of the revolutionaries, who thought of himself being DESTINED to be in the CHAIR of the president, twirled his MOUSTACHE and in his RESONANT voice declared "Boys, This is a REMINDER to you to RECALL the sacrifice of our brethern, who have been hanged for TREASON while their only crime was demanding basic civil rights. Their spirit UNITES us. This is our LAST STAND. What you do today will decide whether the country EVOLVES into a democracy and reaches the high NOON of her potential". Did they achieve what they wished? Who knows? My wife NUDGEd me awake from my slumber before the dream could get into the climax