No 12974, Monday 29 Jun 2020, Dr. X

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   Serious dispute after expensive initiation of Brexit (8) HIGHBROW {ROW} after {HIGH}{Br...t}
5   Hurt and killed around eastern border of Iran (6) OFFEND {OFFE{iraN}D}
10 Bit of tenderness in stomach? Associate gives drop of medicine (5) G?T?A (Addendum - GUTTA {GU{Te...s}T}{A} - See comments)
11 Entertainment in nightclub confounds! In what way? (5, 4) FLOOR SHOW {FLOORS}{HOW}
12 Enthralled by knocking back pegs, women turn heads in middle of racket (5, 4) SWEET SPOT {TEE{W}S<=}{TOPS<=}
13 Leader of Arabs in chamber gets legitimately slaughtered meat (5) HALAL {HAL{Ar..s}L}
14 Wicket! India’s captain unfortunately gone for duck (6) WIGEON {W}{In..a}{GONE*}

15 The wrong time to embrace a mistress (7) HETAERA {THE*}{ERA} over {A}
18 Cut across bog around ridge of hill (7) HOGBACK {H{BOG*}ACK}

20 Wait! Torrent contains electronic trace of malware (6) REMAIN {R{E}{Ma...e}AIN}
22 Reprimand degenerate stealing a dollar (5) ROAST {RO{A}{S}T}
24 One seen in bathroom by wife in a bash, slyly snorting bit of speed (9) WASHBASIN {W}{IN+A+BASH}* over {Sp..d}
25 Saw revolutionary in battle reach the lowest point (6, 3) BOTTOM OUT {B{MOTTO<=}OUT}
26 Essentially erotic on-screen images (5) ICONS [T]
27 Decanter in restaurant contains a spot of rum (6) CARAFE {C{A}{Rum}AFE}
28 Chokes in matches, losing final of tournament for good (8) CONGESTS CON(-t+g)GESTS

DOWN
1   Most monstrous thugs moving around back of house (6) HUGEST {HUG{h..sE}ST*}
2   Buzz after leading heroine enters opening party (9) GATHERING {GAT{He...e}E}{RING}
3   Defeat decisively and violently expose the inferior members? (4, 3, 5, 3) BEAT THE PANTS OFF [C&DD] Was stuck as I entered RIPS for BEAT
4   Style of bowling is substandard with shots all round (3-4) OFF-SPIN {OFF}{NIPS<=}
6   At present, cuddling date before night falls (3, 3, 4, 5) FOR THE TIME BEING {BEFORE+NIGHT}* over {TIME}
7   Type of alcohol they served, primarily liqueurs (5) ETHYL {THEY*}{Li...s}
8   Blue stuff in file on computer (8) DOWNLOAD {DOWN}{LOAD}
9   Feverish after consuming bit of opium, cocaine and hard liquor (6) HOOTCH {HO{Op..m}T}{C}{H}
16 Discharges schoolgirl involved in making noise (9) EMISSIONS {E{MISS}IONS*}
17 Enthralling oriental massage, elegant and heavenly (8) CHERUBIC {CH{E}{RUB}IC}
19 Wife took out a little whip! Kneel submissively (6) KOWTOW {TOOK+W}*{Whip}
20 Drunkard involved in dreadful riot for food (7) RISOTTO {RI{SOT}TO*}

21 Charges of commissions! Leading bureaucrat’s expelled (6) ONUSES bONUSES
23 Redesign interior of international terminal (5) ALTER [T]

Reference List
Associate = A, Women = W, Wicket = W, Electronic = E, Dollar = S, Wife = W, Saw = MOTTO, Good = G, Cocaine = C, Hard = H, Oriental = E

Dr RKE's TalePiece

It was a motley GATHERING of the city’s crime syndicate taking place in a secure underground room of a nightclub in the CONGESTed old city of Ahmedabad. The thumping music from the FLOOR SHOW above could be heard and felt here. Ahmed Shabir, the HOOTCH lord of Gujarat, a dry state, was at the head of the table. A woman rumoured to be his HETAERA, periodically refilled his glass from a CARAFE with what looked like white wine but was actually tonic water fortified with a GUTTA of a Unani liver cure. ETHYL alcohol was a strict no for him after his liver transplant surgery. The main course was always RISOTTO with HALAL ROAST beef.

Shabir said “this is our HUGEST opportunity to BEAT THE PANTS OFF of our rival Vaman Mehta.  Vaman’s market share has BOTTOMed OUT after his chief supplier of illegal booze defected to our camp. I see us hitting the SWEET SPOT within weeks.” Shabir was used to all men in the room KOWTOWing to him and so he was surprised that today a young man actually spoke up.  Naren Patel, the young man, was the son of an ex-gangster who had been killed in an encounter, while working for Shabir. Naren looked quite the misfit in this den of crime, what with a CHERUBIC face, a nerd like manner and the casual clothing of jeans and a tee.

Naren brought out his tablet, clicked some ICONS to DOWNLOAD some data and a picture of a policeman. He said “this is SI Subhash Gandhi. He has all the data about our operations on his system. I have managed to hack his computer network and look at this map of Ahmedabad on his system. Everyone of our sales points are marked in red with dates. I am sure he is going to launch a concerted raid. We need to ALTER our plans FOR THE TIME BEING”. The people gathered there stood up and craned their necks to catch a glimpse of their nemesis. Shabir casually walked to the WASHBASIN, putting up an air of not being OFFENDed or angered by this and said coolly, “Arre, REMAIN in your seats. No Gandhi-Shandhi will dare cross my path. You HIGHBROW computer bachchas don’t know the realities of the street. Leave this policewallah to me”. Just as he was saying this there stormed a posse of fully armed policemen with SI Subhash Gandhi leading them.  The entire lot of criminals (except Naren) was rounded up without a single shot being fired. Gandhi shook hands with Naren and said “well my boy, you have discharged your ONUS to your late father”.