No 13011, Tuesday 11 Aug 2020, Bruno

Solution to 6A 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
6   Rent’s free —half of rest’s free (5) L?A?E (Addendum - LEASE reLEASE - See comments))
7   Batter’s condition, when on 99? Happy! (8) BEATIFIC {BEAT}{IF}{IC}
10 Peacekeeper’s dead — therefore suffer (7) UNDERGO {UN}{D}{ERGO}
11 It’s known that spring month's brief, golden, and quiet in the middle (1,6) A PRIORI {APRIl}{OR}{quIet}
12 Drug free person’s no burden on emergency room (7) NONUSER {N}{ONUS}{ER}
13 View from East’s positive and warm (7) EYESHOT {E}{YES}{HOT}
14 Sis and me beaten black and blue for bad habit (11) ABSENTEEISM*
19 Greenhouse gas found by Chinese engineer (7) METHANE {MET}{HAN}{E}
21 Part of life when the heart’s gone and charm’s no good (7) TEENAGE {ThE}{ENgAGE}
23 Retriever perhaps’ not very English — this dog is (7) TERRIER {RETRIEveR}* Semi&lit
25 Some untold steroid for senior citizen (7) OLDSTER [T]
26 Wears kit, runs to play sport (5,3) WATER SKI*
27 Animal left with headless object (5) LEMUR {L}{fEMUR} (Correction - {L}{dEMUR} - See comments)

DOWN
1   Cover girl joins group (8) BANDANNA {BAND}{ANNA}

2   Studies Latin and makes money (6) LEARNS {L}{EARNS}
3   Hate a beer brewed with corn — hard to get drunk (10) ABHORRENCE {A+BEER+CORN+H}* (Addendum - {A+BEER+CORN}* over {H} - See comments)
4   Wine from a valley within Catalonia’s borders (4) CAVA {A}{V} in {Ca...iA}
5   Stop blockchains regularly getting hacked (6) KIBOSH {BlOcKcHaInS}*
6   Steaming sauna under large pieces of wood (6) LAUANS {L}{SAUNA*}
8   Middle Eastern airlines, flying north, disappeared (7) ISRAELI AIRLInES*
9   Landscape picture’s essence in travel document (5) VISTA {VIS{picTure}A}
13 Online slogan for Reagan 81’ perhaps is considered tops! (10) ELECTRONIC {ELECT RON}{Is}{Co...d}
15 Furniture reinforced by post supporting top of slab is immovable (7) STABILE {Slab}{TAB{I}LE}
16 Measure against being depicted in online caricature (4,4) MEAN TIME {ANTI} in {MEME}
17 Is setter extremely thirsty for peaceful relations? (5) AMITY {AM I}{Th...tY}
18 Fear — that is replaced by love in 23A (6) TERROR TERR(-ie+0)OR
20 Black and brown fabric (6) TARTAN {TAR}{TAN}
22 Ultimate objective of some pitiful lad negligently brought up (3-3) END-ALL [T<=]
24 General escape from catch and scratch (4) RASP gRASP

Reference List
99 = 1C, Dead = D, Golden = OR, No = N, East = E, Engineer = E, Good = G, Very = V, English = E, Left = L, Latin = L, Hard = H, Valley = V, Large = L, North = N, Post = I, Love = 0, General = G

Dr RKE's TalePiece

The OLDSTER sat on the LAUAN bench in the Grand Hope Park, Los Angeles. He wore a TARTAN sweater and a warm BANDANNA although it was early summer. He ABSENTly stroked the back of his TERRIER even as he stared vacantly at the STABILE abstract metal sculpture within his EYESHOT.  That far-away look in his eyes seemed to carry a story. I sat beside him and watched for a while, without interrupting his thought. Suddenly, he asked me in a voice that had a distinct RASP, “you like that, son?” pointing to the sculpture. Being an ELECTRONIC engineer, I had no eye for abstract art. I could not make out what that twisted structure was supposed to represent. Not wanting to offend the old man, I said simply “it is shiny, looks grand in the evening sun”.

He continued to tell his story, not bothering to see if I was listening. “I was just out of my TEENAGE when I enlisted for action in ‘Nam. When my buddies were out WATER SKIing in the beach back home, I was sweating it out in the jungle, in TERROR of a guerilla attack, breathing the METHANE from the marshes and having my rations being snatched by the flying LEMURs. One LEARNS to heartlessly look the other way when your brother-in-arms is felled by sniper fire. After 9 months I was on the brink of insanity. I was institutionalized for a year and with the help of an ISRAELI shrink in the Veterans Hospital, I managed to drive away the ghosts in my head. It was a second LEASE of life to me. I went on to become a realtor and in the MEANTIME continued helping out the cause of the veterans.  The deep ABHORRENCE for war never really left me. After I had made my fortunes, I commissioned this work of art to remind people about the futility of war. I chose to call it AMITY. I hope none of you youngsters have to UNDERGO the horrors that our generation went through.”

He then rose and walked away. I was shocked to see his terrier guiding him and the white cane carried by the blind in his hand. All the VISTAs he beheld were purely in his mind’s eye!