No 12927, Tuesday 05 May 2020, Arden

Day 42 of 54 Stay safe at home

Solution to 3D has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular/novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS
9   Room let out, producing vibrations (7) TREMOLO*
10 Base for globe in rotation (7) IGNOBLE*
11 Beginner had drowned in a river (7) AMATEUR {AM{ATE}UR}
12 Dance with him, covered only with feathers (7) HOEDOWN {H{O}E}{DOWN}

13 Changing times in the saga about human knowledge (9) EPISTEMIC {EP{TIMES*}IC}
15 Vermin left floating on a river (5) LOUSE {L}{OUSE}
16 Stop two dogs (7) CURTAIL {CUR}{TAIL}
19 Marionettes put pressure on state to step back (7) PUPPETS {P}{UP}{STEP<=}
20 It’s good for a Parisian — gets American bounty (5) BONUS {BON}{US}
21 Picture left with two boys (9) PORTRAYAL {PORT}{RAY}{AL}
25 Harry watered plant (7) TARWEED*

26 After midnight lets them hang out here (7) GALLOWS {niGht}{ALLOWS}
28 Starts collecting ice in large moving mass (7) GLACIER {GLA{Co...g}{Ice}ER*} Semi&lit
29 South wind close to cape, it’s harsh (7) AUSTERE {AUSTER}{capE}

DOWN
1   Shoot faster in a way (6) STRAFE*
2   He could be alien, is keeping quiet (6) NEPALI {NE{P}ALI*}
3   See boss in shop, open door (4) ?O?E {Addendum - POPE [T] - See comments)
4   Persecution will increase during dance (6) POGROM {P{GO<=}ROM}
5   Strange thing to restrict drink (8) NIGHTCAP {THING*}{CAP}
6   Illegal trader in adulterated petrol — Henry’s regularly missing (10) INTERLOPER {IN}{PETROL*}{hEnRy}
7   Sailors love this sealant, it’s perfect (8) ABSOLUTE {AB}{SOLUTE} (Correction - {ABS}{0}{LUTE} - See comments)
8   Cry over a point — shows how sharp you are (8) KEENNESS {KEEN}{NESS}
14 Partners involved in creating new species, perhaps (10) TRANSGENIC {TRA{N}{S}GENIC*}
16 Alien boat held in custody for plying in coastal waters (8) CABOTAGE {C{BOAT*}AGE}
17 Call on the way going round the city (4,4) RING ROAD {RING}{ROAD}
18 Rapid changes in amateur stone worker (8) LAPIDARY {LA{RAPID*}Y}
22 Shabby defective strain gauge, not in use (6) RAGTAG {sTRAin+GAuGe}* [CA]
23 Bodyguards only inside the country (6) YEOMEN {YE{O}MEN}
24 Way to stop right to tap (6) LISTEN {LI{ST}EN}
27 Shine, lacking on passion (4) LUSTre

Reference List
Only = O, Left = L, Pressure = P, Good in French = BON, Quiet = P, Sailor = ABS, Love = 0, Partners = N,S (in bridge), On = RE

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Capt. Bahadur Thapa was a NEPALI, serving in the 11th Gorkha Rifles. He had shown KEENNESS to serve in the Army right from a young age,  inspired by his grandfather, who had been decorated for YEOMAN service in North Africa in WW II. He was no AMATEUR and he had got used to the AUSTERE life in a base camp at Siachen GLACIER region. The heavy snow wear CURTAILs limb movements and the chattering of teeth in the intense cold gives a TREMOLO effect even while speaking.

He and his men had LISTENed to some phone calls of infiltrators from across the border and had come to know of their IGNOBLE intention to blow up a bridge on the road to Leh. The bombing operation was to be carried out by a RAGTAG group of 6 men drawn from 2 or 3 terrorist outfits. The poor visibility meant that Thapa and his men had no choice but to wait with the patience of a POPE for the terrorists to approach the bridge. They RINGed the ROAD, waiting unseen to ambush the INTERLOPERs. Thapa knew that the terrorists had superior firepower and the key element would be the ability to STRAFE the gang from both sides of the road with ABSOLUTE  suddenness and precision. The strategy paid off well and 5 of the terrorists fell like PUPPETS but the sixth man, their leader took cover behind an icy rock and almost succeeded in throwing the bomb towards the bridge. A flying kukri dismembered his arm exactly at that moment. That kukri had come from Capt.Thapa himself. The capture of the terrorist leader alive was an unexpected BONUS. It was a PORTRAYAL of exemplary courage by the 11th Gorkha Rifles. If we were to send the terrorist to the GALLOWS, we would have richly rewarded that intrepid regiment, but is that going to happen?