No 12963, Tuesday 16 Jun 2020, Incognito

Solution to 19D 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

7   Commissioner of Police’s subordinates, for instance (4) COPS Acrostic Semi&lit

8   Moon-walker like Bahubali or Bhujbal in India? (9) ARMSTRONG [DD?] (Addendum - {ARM}{STRONG} - See comments)

10 After 10, communist revolutionary gives offer (6) TENDER {TEN}{RED<=}

11 Oz lemons squeezed? It can help you produce great shots! (4,4) ZOOM LENS*

12 Record nine returning and eavesdrop (6,2) LISTEN IN {LIST}{NINE<=}

14 Put money into under-shirt (6) INVEST {IN}{VEST}

16 Grumpy Saint Roy collected two-pence (7) STROPPY {ST}{RO{P}{P}Y}

18 Beach’s disease’s developing (7) SEASIDE*

21 Power to confiscate bad spice (6) CHILLI {CH{ILL}I}

23 Seer’s old student’s batman? (8) OBSERVER {OB}{SERVER}

25 Period post was destroyed after being filled chock-a-block (4,4) FULL STOP {POST}*<=>{FULL}

27 Endlessly, Pooh led astray dog (6) POODLE {POOh}{LED*}

29 Where one may dive in the Mariana Trench or Australia... (4,5) DOWN UNDER [C&DD]

30 Police informer’s new on ship (4) NARK {N}{ARK}

DOWN

1   Author in love dances on street (8) NOVELIST {IN+LOVE}*{ST}

2   Took advantage of American edition (4) USED {US}{ED}

3   Unyielding sappers besieged in shed (6) BARREN {BAR{RE}N}

4   Chinese dynasty hides first and final letters. Surprising? (7) AMAZING {A}{M{A}{Z}ING} First A from?

5   A protein synthesised into medication (8) ATROPINE {A}{PROTEIN}*

6   Throw ball and vessel (4) BOWL [DD]

9   Girl sang badly for organised groups of criminals (5) GANGS {G}{SANG*}

13 Bad-tempered dwarf fish (5) TROLL [DD]

15 Consultant releases advertisement for face-guard (5) VISOR adVISOR

17 Adjust pin and turn to cover primary roller in part of newspaper production process (5,3) PRINT RUN {PIN+TURN}* over {Ro...r}

19 Germany has water source earning money for residents (8) D?E?L?R? (Addendum - {D{WELL}E}{RS} - See comments)

20 Missile to drop explosively around stern of frigate (7) TORPEDO {TO+DROP}* over {f...tE}

22 Harry’s dog (5) HOUND [DD]

24 Initially, puzzle in rebus design was very good (6) SUPERB {Pu...e} in {REBUS}*

26 The French women’s starting to neglect part of garden, perhaps (4) LAWN {LA}{W}{Ne...t}

28 Has title to snow mixer (4) OWNS*

Reference List

Pence = P, Old student = OB(Old boy), New = N, Sappers = RE(Royal Engineers), Girl = G, Germany = DE, Money = Rs, The in French = LA, Women = W

GRID

(Same as on Saturday 13 Jun)

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Jack ARMSTRONG, a photo-journalist was working for the Sydney OBSERVER, an esteemed daily from DOWN UNDER. The AMAZING pictures shot through the ZOOM LENS of his Nikon D6 on the Australian SEASIDE or even in the BARREN Oz outback were USED by the paper in its Sunday Magazine to boost the PRINT RUN to 50000 copies. So, Thomas Bryce, the man who OWNS and edits the paper was incredulous when Armstrong TENDERed his resignation while at the peak of his career.  What made him STROPPY was that Armstrong did not say why he wanted to quit.

Actually Armstrong had always wanted to be a NOVELIST. Photography was only a hobby but finding money in it, he used that talent well. He felt he had to put a FULL STOP to his clicking career, if he had to INVEST time for writing a novel. The plot of the novel was brewing in his head when he was on an underwater photo mission to document the ill-effects of TROLLing in the South Sea. Preoccupied with the NARKs and the COPS in his dream novel, who had become permanent DWELLERS in his thoughts, he had not put on the protective VISOR carefully. He was rudely jolted by the sting on the cheek from a TORPEDO fish- an electric ray that delivers 220 volt and 30 ampere current. He was pulled out in time by the GANGSman on his boat. Armstrong was lucky to get away with a mere burn on the cheek - never mind it felt as if CHILLI was smeared over there - for the strong electric current from the eel has stilled the hearts of many divers, making them unresponsive to ATROPINE.

The shock he received that day, he felt, was a message that it was time for him to hang up his boots as a photo-journalist. He decided that henceforth he would sit on that SUPERB front LAWN of his beachside home, sipping idly from a BOWL of noodle soup, stroking the POODLE on his lap, LISTENing IN to that inner voice, the voice that seemed to be unravelling the storyline and characters for his novel one-by-one. This kind of an urge was something that a news HOUND like Bryce could never understand and so Armstrong quit his job without proffering any reason. So, mates, await the greatest crime fiction ever told from J.A.Strong. The real surprise is that the publisher is Thomas Bryce, who knows the smell of money!