No 13020, Friday 21 Aug 2020, Arden

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

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ACROSS
9   Bitter result as computer maker starts biting into competition (7) ACERBIC {ACER}{Bi...g}{Into}{Co...n}
10 Keep a model in good humour (7) PLACATE {PLAC{A}{T}E}
11 Material for employees — no point before arrival (7) TAFFETA {sTAFF}{ETA}
12 Badly outgunned? Do away with the cream (7) UNGUENT {oUTGUNNEd}*
13 Malleus, say, assumed a role of an emperor (9) BONAPARTE {BON{A}{PART}E}

15 Be happy, Rod’s back (5) REVEL<=
16 Half the court accept — regret it’s in a cage of sorts (4,3) TRUE RIB {T{RUE}RIBunal}

19 Want to start with people, finish before they evacuate (7) POVERTY {Pe...e}{OVER}{TheY}
20 Final hour — treatment from bottom to top will repeat (5) RECUR {houR}{(+e)ECUR(-e)}
21 Rising — rinse out ends before pressing (9) INSURGENT {rINSe}{URGENT}
25 Each will accompany the wild animal (7) CHEETAH {EACH+THE}*

26 Handout’s only 75% complete, one’s miserable (7) DOLEFUL {DOLE}{FULl}
28 In short, a policeman arrests writer — it’s other way round (7) APOCOPE {A}{PO{COP}E}
29 Contact in Australia is on the job (7) LIAISON [T]

DOWN
1   John and Bill are from Cambridge (6) CANTAB {CAN}{TAB}
2   Inside a fence, you can make it soundproof (6) DEAFEN [T]
3   Essential jobs — does involve an instrument (4) OBOE {jOBs}{dOEs}
4   Sweet girl from bottom to top (6) ECLAIR (+e)ECLAIR(-e)
5   Pure cocaine mixed in drink — make it neat (6,2) SPRUCE UP {S{PURE+C}*UP}
6   After road rage, end of an SUV (5,5)  RANGE ROVER {R}{ANGER}{OVER}

7   Remove cocktail and drink a cocktail — that’s complete change (8) MAKEOVER {M{A}{cocK}EOVER*}
8   Soldiers count silently (8) MENTALLY {MEN}{TALLY}
14 Each talk will have closing remarks (10) PERORATION {PER}{ORATION}
16 After spell, one’s asleep, switching sides (8) TURNCOAT {TURN}{CO{A}T}
17 Dirty one removed, short book on a novel character (5,3) UNCLE TOM {UNCLEan}{TOMe}
18 Make it shine — perhaps Stokes’ got it correct (8) BRIGHTEN {B{RIGHT}EN}
22 Burden as market has doubled (6) SADDLE {SA{D}{D}LE}
23 Playful after school or greedy? (6) ELFISH sELFISH
24 A small boy’s intent is to get skill (6) TALENT {T{AL}ENT}
27 Heavy metal guitarist, perhaps (4) LEAD [DD]

Reference List

Model = T, Johan = CAN, Cocaine = C, Road = R, DoubleD = DD, School = S

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Mrs. Chandra was our English professor in college. When she sailed into the class in her TAFFETA silk saree, even the most DOLEFUL student would BRIGHTEN up, for she had the TALENT of injecting life into the driest of lessons. She would carry in her handbag Cadbury ECLAIRS chocolates and would give one to the student who answered her tough questions. No wonder we nicknamed her Chocolate Chandra.

She asked one day “Class, do you know what an APOCOPE is?” There was a DEAFENing silence. One bright girl ventured out hesitantly and said “Mam, ‘apo’ means without or away from and ‘cope’ is what the priest wears during the church service. So, I guess it means “a priest who is in mufti and not wearing a cope”. Prof. Chandra said, with an ELFISH twinkle in her eye, “why, I haven’t heard such a genius of an etymology, even when I was a CANTAB”.  We thought the girl would get her chocolate but then the professor added “how I wish it were right. Boys and girls, Cantab itself is an example”. She then went on to explain what an apocope really was- the omission of the last letters or sound from a word that for example, gives Cantab from Cantabrigian. She then asked us to give more examples and we REVELled in giving examples like “bike, math, coed” etc. A gym rat, proud of his six-packs, stood up and  asked “Mam, do ‘gym’, ‘abs’ and ‘glutes’ qualify as apocopes?” Chandra shot back with an ACERBIC wit, “Indeed, young man, it is heartening to note that you are developing at least a bit MENTALLY if not as much as physically from your work-outs”. Of course, she PLACATEd the bruised ego of the hunk, by offering the Eclairs that day to him!

In the SADDLE as the HOD of the English Department, Prof. Chandra took the LEAD in organizing literary debates. She taught us UNCLE TOM’s Cabin (an abridged version) for non-detailed prose. She could portray the LIAISON between Tom and Eva in that story with just the cadence of her voice without any gesticulation. She would SPRUCE UP her reading of even the darkest parts of the novel with some memorable anecdotes. Chandra would never end her lectures with a long boring PERORATION. She said while leaving the class one day (quoting Harriet Beecher Stowe), “Strange, what brings these past things so vividly back to us, some times” and left. That line has not left me to this day and is responsible for today’s little tale.