No 12931, Saturday 09 May 2020, Incognito

Day 46 of 54 Stay safe at home

ACROSS
7   Fish used in Tofu Gumbo (4) FUGU (T)
8   Head Office’s cashier is an innkeeper (9) HOSTELLER {HO}{S}{TELLER}
10 Confused senior is more inquisitive (6) NOSIER {SENIOR*}
11 Swimming volunteers in country (8) NATATION {NA{TA}TION}
12 Rosa wanders, carrying a couple of axes, in afternoon, resulting in seizure (8) PAROXYSM {P{ROS{XY}A*}M}
14 West American bias about pungent condiment (6) WASABI {W}{A}{BIAS*}
16 Model leaves martial art for fine entertainment (7) KARAOKE {KARA(-t+OK)E}
18 Chief accepts money and order for flower (7) BLOSSOM {B{L}OSS}{OM}
21 Was raw when rejected in city (6) WARSAW {WAS}{RAW}<=
23 Separates dancing twins before end of August in America (8) UNTWISTS {U{TWINS*}{augusT}S}
25 Scornfully reject as foolish and return a couple of rings (4-4) POOH-POOH {HOOP}{HOOP}<=
27 Sport returns carrying nothing for men (6) TROOPS {SPORT<=} around {O}
29 Finally, water animal is next to bund in city (9) ROTTERDAM {wateR}{OTTER}{DAM}
30 English surgeon finishes (4) ENDS {EN}{DS} Surgeon=DS?

DOWN
1   After expelling Munro, Kawasaki imports sour cocktail for movie director (8) KUROSAWA {K{SOUR*}AWAsaki}
2   Mount, in the beginning, for unique Japanese image (4) FUJI (Acrostic)
3   Wail about that lady’s fruit (6) CHERRY {C{HER}{RY}
4   Tunas swim over Malta island in a very destructive wave! (7) TSUNAMI {TUNAS*}{M}{I}
5   Grant’s tea-bowls are broken (8) BESTOWAL {TEA+BOWLS*}
6   In court, see an idiot (4) CLOT {C{LO}T}
9   Bohr returned, clutching money for equilateral parallelogram (5) RHOMB {BOHR<=} around {M}
13 Approves soya preparation around the end of the week (5) OKAYS {SOYA*} around {weeK}
15 Colossus hiked, carrying fish dish (5) SUSHI (T)
17 OK, two wed by mistake and behaved subserviently (8) KOWTOWED {OK+TWO+WED*}
19 Cop stood awkwardly producing possible ingredients of 15 (8) OCTOPODS {COP+STOOD*}
20 President gets bride’s confirmation for martial law (7) BUSHIDO {BUSH}{I DO}
22 Lover’s mail? Second letter is missing! (5) AMOUR {ArMOUR}
24 A mat rolled up in the outskirts of Toyotomi? (6) TATAMI {Toyotom{A}{MAT<=}I} &lit
26 Detest headgear worn by European (4) HATE {HAT}{E}
28 Order’s accompanied by money? Follow order (4) OBEY {OBE}{Y}

Reference List

Head office=HO, Volunteers=TA, Axes=XY, Afternoon=PM, West=W, American=A, Model=T, Fine=OK, Money=L, Order=OM, America=US, Nothing=O
Munro=Saki, Malta=M, Island=I, Court=Ct, See=Lo, Money=M, European=E, Order=OBE, Money=Y(Yen)

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

ST, my friend from Trichy, was awarded a travelling fellowship to work with Prof. Kenchiro Hirayama, a noted neurosurgeon from Kyoto. ST had luckily gone there in March when the CHERRY BLOSSOM blooms, a sight to behold. He filled whole roles of film on his FUJI camera photographing them.  He was a HOSTELLER and made his own Indian food in the room.

Naturally, ST was excited when the Professor invited him and other co-trainees one evening to a KARAOKE bar and restaurant for a Japanese dinner. On the walls of the restaurant were painted scenes from the Seven Samurai, a film by Akira KUROSAWA. The TATAMI mats were merely for the ambience and they were seated at tables by the petite waitress. Hirayama spoke English fairly well and he explained to ST about the fascinating history of the samurai TROOPS, their BUSHIDO and how they would go to any ENDS to fight for their honour.

After a round of sake, they ordered SUSHI. ST, used only to Indian flavours in non-vegetaian food,  found the WASABI in the sushi to be pungent. His stomach was in a revolt when Hirayama told him that the sushi had assorted raw seafood, including OCTOPODS. And to make matters worse, Hirayama went on to graphically describe about the dangers of eating FUGU, a poisonous fish. He gave a clinical sounding lecture on how the tetrodotoxin in the fish, if not cooked with care, would cause a PAROXYSM of seizure and then paralyze the muscles of breathing. ST HATEd to be impolite, but hearing all that, the revolt in the stomach was soon turning out to be a TSUNAMI. He could not be like the other students of the Professor, who KOWTOWED to the big man. ST left the party unceremoniously, rushed back to his hostel and gave vent to the gastric upheaval. His condition became OKAY after eating the leftover curd rice from lunch and some ginger pickle. For the rest of his 3 month stay in Japan, he strictly OBEYed a self imposed rule of not trying any exotic food.