No 12941, Thursday 21 May 2020, Dr. X

Day 58 of 68 Stay safe at home

(I am maintaining lockdown till 31 May)

Solution to 10A 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
1   Intricate patterns in part of church (8) TRANSEPT*
5   Injury during exercise around steep slope (6) ESCARP {E{SCAR}P<=}
10 Person easily exploited in swindle by old rogue collecting money (7) D?O?M?T (Addendum - DOORMAT {DO}{O}{R{M}AT} - See comments)

11 Come up to ride the waves with expert (7) SURFACE {SURF}{ACE}
12 Footprints of killer finally found in rear (5) TRAIL {T{k...eR}AIL}
13 Amendment issue can lead to nationwide problems (9) NUISANCES {ISSUES+CAN+Na...e}*
14 Rebellious groups on ecstasy party in daze (12) STUPEFACTION {PUTS<=}{E}{FACTION}
18 One who can barely swim? (6-6) SKINNY-DIPPER [CD]
21 Disastrous including one device largely giving state control of economy (9) DIRIGISME {DIR{1}{GISMo}E}
23 Reckless model in Iranian city (5) RASHT {RASH}{T}
24 A marine shot in Eurasian country (7) ARMENIA*

25 Lover hugging popular American footballer (7) LINEMAN {L{IN}EMAN}
26 Reviewing outfits featuring extremely youthful designs (6) STYLES {ST{Yo...uL}ES<=}
27 Upset with partner concealing brief fling after union (8) UPHEAVAL {P{HEAVe}AL} after {U}

DOWN
1   Work put up in art gallery until now (2,4) TO DATE {T{DO<=}ATE}
2   Unprincipled man cracking a test (6) AMORAL {A}{M}{ORAL}
3   Fool a little silly rascal to spill the beans (9) SIMPLETON {Si..y}{IMP}{LET ON}
4   What one might do with a statue? Regard with great admiration (3,2,1,8) PUT ON A PEDESTAL [DD]
6   Country close to Turkey, besieged by rebellious characters (5) SYRIA {S{t...eY}RIA<=} Semi&lit

7   Essence of operation supervised on reflection by smart revolutionary (8) ANARCHIC {operAtion}{RAN<=}{CHIC}
8   Rustic houses, large and charming (8) PLEASANT {P{L}EASANT}
9   A sign of stoicism or a blunder to conceal disagreement with superior (1,5,5,3) A STIFF UPPER LIP {A}{SLIP} over {TIFF}{UPPER}

15 Green light in space (9) CLEARANCE [DD]
16 Curse sad, dilapidated second-hand vehicles (4,4) USED CARS*
17 Member starting to yell after couple of drinks in card game (3,5) GIN RUMMY {M}{Yell} after {GIN}{RUM}
19 Sci-fi writer enthralled by Madrasi movie (6) ASIMOV [T]
20 Sample of beat on album not written in any key (6) ATONAL [T]
22 Information about brand (5) GENRE {GEN}{RE}
Reference List
Old = O, Money = M, Exercise = PE, Ecstasy = E, Model = T, Popular = IN, Union = U, Work = DO, Man = M, Large = L, Member = M, Information = GEN, About = RE

Dr RKE's TalePiece

On a PLEASANT Sunday morning in December, we were on a heritage TRAIL on the ARMENIAn street in Chennai. The Armenian church there was originally built in the 18th century but the structure that stands TO DATE was built in a contemporary STYLE in 1905. The fading warning on the outer compound wall read "Persons creating NUISANCE will be prosecuted", which was an euphemism for telling men not to urinate there. There was a plush DOORMAT, which bore the name of the manufacturer from RASHT, Iran, though frayed on the SURFACE. The nave was laid with a carpet from SYRIA. From the TRANSEPT, you can see the beautiful marble statue of Virgin Mary PUT ON A PEDESTAL. The organ of the choir was still in a usable condition and one enthusiast from our group even played a few snatches of an ATONAL GENRE on it.

The amateur historian guiding our group brought us out to the shade of a punnai tree in the CLEARANCE between the church, the famed belfry and the ESCARP around the co-cathedral. He narrated a tale about the ANARCHIC time around 1857, when the UPHEAVAL of the sepoy mutiny (First War of Indian Independence) was raging in north and east India. Madras was a safe haven for the British but there was fear that the tide might turn against them anytime. The British thought that the wealthy Armenian merchants, not being natives, would be a good ally. An AMORAL officer, George Harrison from the East India Company could easily lure the chaplain of the Armenian church, who was a SIMPLETON, and got to use the church premises as temporary lodgement. While there, Harrison had a fling with Maria, the daughter of the chaplain and the affair had started with a seemingly inocuous session of GIN RUMMY. One thing lead to another, and to her STUPEFACTION, she soon discovered she was pregnant. The enraged chaplain would not allow an abortion and sent her off to Cochin, another Armenian centre. The seniors of Harrison chose to maintain the traditional British STIFF UPPER LIP on this unpleasant development. The bastard child grew up in Cochin and by the time he grew up in to a young man, Harrison was posted to Cochin by the Crown as collector. Maria who had fed her son with hate than her milk, motivated her son to kill Harrison. The mother-son duo accomplished the murder and managed to escape scot-free. A chill went through the spine of everyone in our group, when the historian said, "you now stand over the ground where Maria and her son were buried".