No 12920, Monday 27 Apr 2020, Gridman

Day No 34 of 40 Stay safe at home

Solution to 27A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular/novice commenter, with proper annotation.

ACROSS
1   A fine female in big town about to leave relationship (8) AFFINITY {A}{F}{F}{IN}{cITY}
5   Quickly leave urn? (3,3) RUN OFF {URN}* [RA]
10 Hard task to confine rum trouble in confused state (7) TURMOIL {T{RUM*}OIL}
11 Always in favour of woman, right? (7) FOREVER {FOR}{EVE}{R}
12 Entirely missing TN in circulation in a strange manner (6) EERILY EntIRELY*
13 Robin in attempt at UK town to find water container (8) BIRDBATH {BI{R}D}{BATH}
15 Protester in demo conceals rough exterior (4) RIND [T]
16 Train disaster evokes the German complaint (10) DERAILMENT {DER}{AILMENT}
18 Documentation gets personal assistant to protest loudly after each time (5,5) PAPER TRAIL {PA}{PER}{T}{RAIL}
20 Western section is heated (4) WARM {W}{ARM}
23 Further on behalf of hospital sections (8) FORWARDS {FOR}{WARDS}
24 Space allotted to doctor in vault (6) ENTOMB {EN}{TO}{MB}
26 One taken captive by the army rages endlessly (7) HOSTAGE {HOST}{rAGEs}
27 Old academics with no limits to audacity and to wit (7) E?E?I?I (Addendum - EMERITI {tEMERITy}{wIt} - See comments)
28 More inactive son leaves gardening equipment (6) TILLER sTILLER
29 Pit is said to house girl without reservation (5,3) WHOLE HOG (~hole){WHOLE}{HO}{G}

DOWN
1   How people should go to rescue when a bowler falls (2,3,4,2,1,3) AT THE DROP OF A HAT [C&DD]
2   A number told to manage herald (7) FORERUN (~four){FORE}{RUN}
3   Indian valley’s up to the French simpleton (6) NOODLE {DOON<=}{LE}
4   At Indian lake, king gets Tamil leader to chat (4) TALK {TAL}{K} Tamil leader is superfluous, looks like a mix-up here See comments
6   Solve and close up the holes? (8) UNRIDDLE [DD]
7  Prevent old boy endlessly avid to have tea spilt (7) OBVIATE {OB}{aVId}{TEA*}
8   Befitting hero artfully protects me temporarily (3,3,4,5) FOR THE TIME BEING {BEFITTING+HERO}* over {ME}
9   A fine fellow and kinky diva with sex appeal produce legal document (9) AFFIDAVIT {A}{F}{F}{DIVA*}{IT}
14 Laid up, eastern doctor gets ordered about (9) BEDRIDDEN {B{E}{DR}IDDEN}
17 Fracture? Rest for a long time! (8) BREAKAGE {BREAK}{AGE}
19 Chunks of text on old broken sunshade (7) PARASOL {PARAS}{OLd}
21 Get rid of sailor removing cover of man from Warsaw (7) ABOLISH {AB}{pOLISH}
22 To such a person French spa might be the answer (6) UNWELL {UN}{WELL} Semi&lit
25 The old expression of delight? For sure! (4) YEAH {YE}{AH}

Reference List
Fine = F, Female = F, About = C, Right = R, Robin = R, The in German = DER, Time = T, Western = W, Space = EN, Doctor = MB, DR, Son = S, House = HO, Girl = G, The in French = LE, Indian lake = TAL, King = K, Old Boy = OB, Fellow = F, Sex Appeal = IT, Eastern = E, Sailor = AB, The old = YE

Dr RKEs TalePiece

On a WARM July afternoon, I sat under a PARASOL, idly watching the RUN OFF from the BIRDBATH fountain in the garden in my uncle's palatial bungalow. It was a long wait. The aging uncle had been UNWELL for some time. I had come to spend time with him and then wothin 2 weeks, he had become BEDRIDDEN. Having no one except a domestic help in the huge house, he needed someone to TALK to. He, a TILLER's son, had climbed up in the society, taught in the university and was even now one of the professors EMERITI. Of course, he had become rich not because of his academic success but because he married a very wealthy woman and sadly she had died years ago, leaving no issues.

Earlier, that morning, as I was sitting by his bed and peeling the RIND of an orange for him, he had placed his frail hand on my shoulder with an avuncular AFFINITY. He was FOREVER talking EERILY of his imminent end but today he went to the extent of giving me instruction on where and how I had to ENTOMB him. I said "ABOLISH such morbid ideas, uncle. Don't get into a TURMOIL, Your doctor tells me that your disablement is only FOR THE TIME BEING". And he said "Oh, YEAH, right now I need an honest lawyer rather than that NOODLE of a doctor. I need to UNRIDDLE the PAPER TRAIL of all my investments to complete my will, so as to OBVIATE any confusion after I am gone. Go, get me one AT THE DROP OF A HAT." I managed to get an estate lawyer and the AFFIDAVIT was prepared in no time.

When the inevitable happened, I was not surprised that he had left the WHOLE HOG to me for my acts of kindness in his last days. I mentally thanked my uncle and also the person who had given me the idea and supplied the arsenic.