No 13035, Tuesday 08 Sep 2020, KrisKross

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   Doctor obtained drug, released today — finally, a possible treatment for COVID (8) ANTIBODY {OBTAINeD}*{t..aY}
5   Setter had worried after losing online Aadhar, say (2,4) ID CARD {I'D}{CAReD}
9   Student somehow agrees to accept small gift (8) LARGESSE {L}{ARGE{S}SE*}
10 Killing/beheading scoundrel in concert (6) ?O?R?M (Addendum - POGROM {P{dOG}ROM} - See comments)
12 Paint can — it could cause damage to the environment (5,4) BRUSH FIRE {BRUSH}{FIRE}

13 Foreigner is primarily all right (5) ALIEN {All}{LIEN}
14 Swallow in second branch, broken at the tip (4) SWIG {S}{tWIG}
16 Say, I survive, repelling a harmful spell (4,3) EVIL EYE (~i}{EYE}{LIVE}<=
19 Relaxes in amazing Seoul, drinking nog (without egg) (7) LOUNGES {LOU{NoG}ES*}
21 Raised money, reportedly (4) BRED (~bread)
24 Board making a late communication (5) OUIJA [CD]

25 One to leak information and reveal all (9) SINGLETON {SING}{LET ON}
27 According to Spooner, hardworking person is idle (6) LOITER (-t+l)LOI(-l+t)TER
28 Sugar in France, translated to ‘sucre’ (8) FRUCTOSE {FR}{TO+SUCRE}* (Correction - {F}{TO+SUCRE}* - See comments)
29 Religious belief is dividing those people (6) THEISM {THE{IS}M}
30 India flooded by plastic waste again, so to speak (2,2,4) AS IT WERE {AS{I}TWE*}{RE}

DOWN
1   Awkward Basil starting to deliver unrehearsed speeches (2-4) AD-LIBS {BASIL+De...r}*
2   Force queen to wear hat (6) TORQUE {TOR{QU}E} (Addendum - {TO{R}QUE} - See comments)
3   Request to cut corner tree (5) BEECH BEseECH

4   Running smart (7) DASHING [DD]
6   What a fisherman may do to get in touch with a friend (4,1,4) DROP A LINE [DD]
7   Transporters shot in Israel (8) AIRLINES*
8   “Woman of action” describes KrisKross’ boss (8) DOMINEER {DO{MINE}ER}
11 Mediterranean food from Suez, emphatically rejected (4) MEZE [T<=]

15 Specialists in duplicate locks? (9) WIGMAKERS [CD]
17 John and daughter enter new lift, illuminated brightly (8) FLOODLIT {F{LOO}{D}LIT*}
18 Power tending to make one draconian (8) PUNITIVE {P}{UNITIVE}
20 Very very average (2-2) SO-SO {SO}{SO}
21 Live near ruined south Indian city (7) BENARES {BE}{NEAR*}{S}

22 In hotel, going through a boring book (2,4) AT HOME {A}{T{H}OME}
23 Queen outside old building (6) ANNEXE {ANN{EX}E}
26 Authorised insurance firm’s appeal (5) LICIT {LIC}{IT}

Reference List

Drug = E, Oline = E, Student = L, Small = S, Second = S, Egg = O, France = F, India = I, Again = RE, Queen = R, Corner = SE, John = LOO, Daughter = D, Power = P, South = S, Hotel = H, Old = EX, Appeal = IT

Dr RKE's TalePiece

The I D CARD hanging on a lanyard read “Lakshmi Iyer, Chief Customer Relation Officer, Sahara AIRLINES”. At her level of seniority, she did not have to wear a uniform and could come to work in her collection of BENARES silks. It was a sight to behold, as she walked briskly in the FLOODLIT foyer of the airport, with a muted rustle from the saree. Being born and BRED in Bengaluru, she was quite AT HOME with several languages and this came in handy in dealing with customers from various states. In her job she had to naturally AD LIB a convincing reply to the iratest of the passengers, who could not be handled by her juniors.

She was 36 and was a SINGLETON. Maybe it was her conscious choice to remain single. Maybe it was her DOMINEERing nature that put away the DASHING young men who had dated her in the past. Her widowed mother never tired of finding a suitable match for her. The thought of a woman wanting to remain single was ALIEN to this worried mother. The venerable lady’s trysts with THEISM had not yielded results and thinking that an EVIL EYE had been cast on her daughter, she had even arranged to have an occultist with a OUIJA board to find the root cause.    

One day, a man who was LOITERing in the LOUNGE kept watching her for sometime. He took a SWIG from the Frooti can and kept wondering where he had seen her before. The FRUCTOSE in the drink, energized his brain and it all came to him in a flash, AS IT WERE. He walked up to her office ANNEXE and said “Hey, Lakshmi, how many years it has been”. Lakshmi was equally surprised to meet her college mate Pranesh. When she came home. Lakshmi excitedly announced to her mom that she had met Pranesh that day. The old lady’s heart gladdened and she said with a sigh, “why, he was the best boy in your class”.

Now, dear reader, don’t assume that there was a re-kindling of an old flame and that they soon got hitched. That would be too commonplace, nay, even cinematic. They had only exchanged their numbers and mail IDs and promised to DROP A LINE or two, to stay in touch as good friends.