No 12913, Saturday 18 Apr 2020, Hypatia

Day 25 of 40 Stay safe at home

ACROSS
9   What Telcos don’t do // is the reason mobiles shut down (6,3,6) CHARGE TOO LITTLE (D&CD)
10 Jerk interferes initially with US central bank over budget shortfall (7) DEFICIT {TIC}{Interferes}{FED}<=
11 Captured in war, even generals retaliate (7) REVENGE (T)
12 According to Spooner, time travelled is not squandered (4-5) WELL SPENT {(-sp+W)ELL (+SP-w)ENT}
14 8 to 1, say at boring port (5) RATIO {R{AT}IO}
17 Is it possible for a holy man to join a card game? (7) CANASTA {CAN}{A}{ST}{A}
19 Vice president given a new punishment (7) PENANCE {PEN{A}{N}CE}
21 Produce finally from machinery, idle otherwise (5) YIELD {machinerY}{IDLE*}
23 Grunts, thoroughly exhausted (6,3) STRUNG OUT Reverse Anagram of {GRUNTS}
25 Overlook revolutionary expert in operation (7) MISSION {MISS}{NO 1<=}
27 Indian guy eats entire bird (7) MALLARD {M{ALL}ARD}
30 This time, stick held by pressing crushed flower (6,9) SPRING SNOWFLAKE {PRESSING*} around {NOW}{FLAK}

DOWN
1   It’s astringent, causing internal damage, primarily (4) ACID (Acrostic &lit)
2   50 percent of Aluminium put in hot flasks initially (4) HALF {Hot}{AL}{Flasks}
3   Where chicks used to be, say caught in fumes (3-5) EGG-CASES {EG}{G {C}ASES}
4   Declare about Universal image (6) STATUE {STAT{U}E}
5   Party poster flying on threshold (8) DOORSTEP {DO}{POSTER*}
6   Thin piece with Lithium turning to precious metal (6) SILVER {SLIVER} with {LI} turned
7   Reputation picked up in English boarding school (4) ETON {NOTE<=}
8   Hand out ham, to the audience (4) METE {~MEAT}
12 Crazy wizard chokes you at regular intervals (5) WACKY (Acrostic)
13 Breather taken by European in spring? (5) LUNGE {LUNG}{E}
15 Beginning to try exotic Goan dance (5) TANGO {Try}{GOAN*}
16 Patent on time (5) OVERT {OVER}{T}
18 One might light up your home? (8) ARSONIST (CD)
20 Everyone stayed // all right? (4,4) NONE LEFT (D&CD)
22 Goes down to hear Hamlet’s countrymen (6) DEIGNS {~DANES}
24 Say Laver, followed Jethmalani, perhaps a strict disciplinarian (6) RAMROD {RAM}{ROD}
25 Bulk service (4) MASS (DD)
26 Alert queen drilling Bond, perhaps (4) SPRY {SP{R}Y}
28 On vacation, married to woman in a month (4) AWAY {A}{(-m+W)AY}
29 Went up yawning (4) DEEP {PEED<=}

Reference List

US Central Bank=Fed, Port=Rio, Holy man=St, New=N, Expert=No 1, Indian guy=Mard
Aluminium=Al, Say=Eg, Caught=C, Universal=U, Party=Do, Lithium=Li,  European=E, Time=T, Queen=R, Married=M, Woman=W

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Opposite indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Mohan Bambani, stopped respectfully for a moment at the DOORSTEP of his office where there was a SILVER STATUE of his late father, Dhiraj Bambani. Dhiraj had taken on the MISSION to build a vast business empire, MASS producing textile fabric, while his son was AWAY getting educated at ETON and then at Harvard Business School. On returning to India Mohan's time was WELL SPENT on learning first-hand from his father all the tricks needed to run business in India.  Mohan's younger brother Anand, was a SPRY but WACKY young man, who hated the RAMROD discipline of his father. 

The father loved both his sons equally and he had willed one HALF each of his busineses to his 2 sons. Although OVERTly, it was a 50:50 RATIO, the solid firms were with Mohan and the fancy but risky ones were with Anand. Within a year of Dhiraj's death, Mohan's companies were churning out a handsome YIELD, while the balance sheet of Anand's companies showed  DEFICITs. STRUNG OUT by a series of failures, Anand tried to give DEEP discounts, CHARGing TOO LITTLE in an effort to woo customers. 

The inheritance row grew bitter and Kamalaben, their mother pointed out to them that it takes two to TANGO. She METEd out justice by re-distributing the brothers' shares such that there was NONE LEFT in the lurch. With the fairer distribution, Anand did not have to take REVENGE on his more successful sib. It was an ACID test for Anand to turn his companies around. That was possible because in an act of PENANCE, Mohan DEIGNed to send some of his best managers to Anand's companies.