No 12964, Wednesday 17 Jun 2020, Incognito

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

7   State: “Hello! Wearing goggles?” (4) OHIO {O{HI}O}

8   A lady endlessly following old teacher with energy results in a jam (9) MARMALADE {A}LADy}<=>{MARM} and {E}

10 Old city man’s pressing (6) URGENT {UR}{GENT}

11 Dogs’ conveniences? (8) HYDRANTS [CD]

12 Spies valley (northern) first in Spanish city (8) VALENCIA {CIA}<=>{VALE}{N}

14 Revolting people in insecure Belshazzar’s custody (6) REBELS [T]

16 The French follow bad spy initially to Hispalis (7) SEVILLE {LE} after {EVIL} after {Spy}

18 Roving CIA men confiscate ring and get high praises (7) ENCOMIA {CIA+MEN}* over {O}

21 Sailor Brown’s ship (6) TARTAN {TAR}{TAN}

23 Overwhelm Indian with a French companion (8) INUNDATE {IN}{UN}{DATE}

25 That man’s modified limo or family jewel, for example (8) HEIRLOOM {HE}{LIMO+OR}*

27 “Old airline’s no good”, son says with a nasal voice (6) TWANG {TWA}{N}{G}{S}

29 Beat half-German, in England initially and get fruit (9) TANGERINE {TAN}{GERman}{IN}{E}

30 Setter’s commercial for a drink (4) MEAD {ME}{AD}

DOWN

1   Little time leads to deficit (8) SHORTAGE {SHORT}{AGE}

2   Only fish (4) SOLE [DD]

3   Bad man left spoilt mincemeat ... it will make you puke (6) ?M?T?C (Addendum - EMETIC MInCEmEaT* - See comments)

4   Main street construction that may provide shelter (7) ARCHWAY {ARCH}{WAY}

5   Miranda’s excited about new language (8) MANDARIN {MIRANDA}* over {N}

6   Two thirds of fruit for dad (4) PAPA PAPAya

9   Praise previous batch sent back (5) EXTOL {EX}{LOT<=}

13 Order found in the dictionary (5) EDICT [T]

15 Stock vital fluid (5) BLOOD [DD]

17 Criminal Ron led on English capitalist (8) LONDONER*

19 Broken triangle becomes unbroken (8) INTEGRAL*

20 Flying missive from Amir Ali’s destroyed (7) AIRMAIL*

22 Spy one male (5) AGENT {A}{GENT}

24 Frees relatives after loss of first appeal (6) UNTIES aUNTIES

26 Call for an item of jewellery (4) RING [DD]

28 Venus de Milo doesn’t have these weapons (4) ARMS [DD]

Reference List

Energy = E, Northern = N, The in French = LE, A in French = UN, Commercial = AD, New = N

GRID

(Same as Ssturday 13 Jun)

Dr RKE's TalePiece

John Snow, an AGENT of the MI6 was a thoroughbred LONDONER. He had been brought up on a “healthy” diet of fish ‘n’ chips, beef sandwich and MARMALADE tart. So he hated it when he was sent on a mission to VALENCIA, where the food had the natural goodness INTEGRAL to Mediterranean cuisine. He was wondering how he would survive for a week SOLEly on TANGERINE juice for breakfast and nothing stronger than honey MEAD at dinner. He had informed about his visit to one A. Perez, his counterpart in the Spanish National Intelligence Centre, through a secure wire, as AIRMAIL was too dangerous and too slow for such URGENT and sensitive matter.

Spain is EXTOLled  as a land full of surprises. The first surprise for Snow was at the airport.  A. Perez (whom he had always assumed was a man), turned out to be Antonia Perez, a striking young woman in a well-cut business suit. She said she was from SEVILLE. “Ah, that explains your flamenco dancer like figure” thought Snow. The second surprise was she spoke fluent English, with only a trace of an Iberian accent. As she drove him to the NIC branch of Valencia she pointed to him the imposing ARCHWAYS with Latin EDICTs and cathedrals of that city, to which Snow paid scant attention- his attention was focused on the charming Ms. A. Perez.  His mission was to gather intelligence on the Moorish REBELS who were up in ARMS against the Andalusian Government and their possible links to terrorist organizations in England.  Antonia proved a worthy source and in 5 days he had gathered enough material to INUNDATE the MANDARINS in the Home Office. Business done, Antonia took John to meet her PAPA and this was his third surprise. The senior Perez, who had retired as a Captain in the NIC, spoke in broken English, but there was no SHORTAGE of inside information in what he revealed about the rebels.  The fourth surprise was that Antonia had arranged for his fish ‘n’ chips, beef sandwich and marmalade tart, somehow sensing that he missed his favourite food.

The final surprise in this tale is to Antonia. They go for a walk, John stops near a red fire HYDRANT on the quaint cobblestoned street, UNTIES the strings of a gift wrapped little box and produces a RING (which was really a family HEIRLOOM) saying “will you marry me?” She remembers the rush of BLOOD in her cheeks, the TWANG of  a hundred Flamenco guitars in her ears at that moment to this day.