No 13049, Thursday 24 Sep 2020, Gridman

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
1   Revolutionary spoke about Chennai leader (7) RADICAL {RADI{Ch...i}AL}
5   Seek clever incomplete group first (6) SEARCH {ARCH}<=>{SEt}
9   One good bathroom in a summer house (5) IGLOO {1}{G}{LOO}
10 Sailor hurried back — I have the story (9) NARRATIVE {TAR}{RAN}<={I'VE}
11 Being noncommittal, not using capital, getting small fringes (7) EDGINGS {hEDGING}{S}
12 Felt uneasy holding cool, certain booty (3,4) THE PELF {T{HEP}ELF*}
13 Question a rising traitor in an Arabian land (5) QATAR {Q}{A}{RAT<=}

14 Alternate winter place with police chief missing (9) INTERLACE {wINTER}{pLACE}
16 For which an aspiring politician may want a party ticket (5,4) EMPTY SEAT [CD]
19 Holy man depressed with hovel broken (5) SADHU {SAD}{HUt}
21 Can girl with light be excited? (7) TINGLED {TIN}{G}{LED}
23 English aura is spread around a huge landmass (7) EURASIA {E}{AURA+IS}*
24 Breakaway choir master leaving one male group of musicians (9) ORCHESTRA {CHOiR+mASTER}*
25 I moan about a biblical character (5) NAOMI*
26 The old strenuously stay zestful (6) YEASTY {YE}{STAY*}
27 It offers cold comfort, perhaps (7) EARPLUG [CD]

DOWN
1   What an enquiring person would do to get an answer (5,1,8) RAISE A QUESTION [CD]
2   If Turkish, it’s sweet! (7) DELIGHT [CD]

3   Boast endlessly about ace singer such as Kishore (7) C?O?N?R (Addendum - CROONER {CRO{ONER}w} - See cmments)
4   Big electoral victory is ground-breaking (9) LANDSLIDE [DD]
5   Proud walk in support? (5) STRUT [DD]
6   Non-professional in a mature turn-out (7) AMATEUR*
7   Fancy ring given to artist (7) CHIMERA {CHIME}{RA}
8   Fella gesturing could do with controlling own behaviour (4-10) SELF-REGULATING*
15 Little birdie and servant capture the French part of book (5,4) TITLE PAGE {TIT}{LE}{PAGE}
17 Badly review American revolutionary’s flair (7) PANACHE {NAP<=}{A}{CHE}
18 Son picks up response about eastern criers (7) YELPERS {S}{REPL{E}Y}<=
19 More calm visionary grabbing short French boy (7) SERENER {SE{RENe}ER}
20 Rob uttered a falsehood accepting old afterword coming up (7) DESPOIL {LI{O}{PS}ED}<=
22 Spotted cuckoo (5) DOTTY [DD]

Reference List
Good = G, Sailor = TAR, Small = S, Question = Q, With = W, Girl = G, English = E, Male = M, Artist = RA, The in French = LE, American = A, Son = S, Eastern = E, Old = O

Dr RKE's TalePiece

I DELIGHT in studying people on train journeys without starting a conversation. The earphones I always wear (sometimes not even connected to my mobile phone) are perceived to be the EARPLUGS signalling that I do not want to be spoken to. This, plus the act of ostensibly poring over a newspaper spread such that it covers my face partly, allows me the freedom to observe people around me undisturbed and draw my conclusions, like an AMATEUR Sherlock Holmes. No matter if the inquisitive man on the opposite seat cranes his neck to read the TITLE PAGE of my newspaper.

So it was, when on a journey from New Delhi to Haridwar by train in 2013, a man in his thirties, got in at Ghaziabad and took the EMPTY SEAT next to me.  His ochre dress, the tilak on the forehead, and the rosary in his hand made it clear he was a SADHU. However, he had a muscular build, short hairstyle and a neatly trimmed moustache.   These CHIMERic contradictions RAISEd THE QUESTION, what could be his NARRATIVE? Has he given up a job, a loving wife and a little kid, in SEARCH for the inner truth, like a modern Buddha? Has he given up a YEASTY life and is seeking to atone in the mountains?  Has he turned a religious RADICAL spurred by the Ram Janmabhoomi struggle?  Does he belong to one of the orders of monks that are helping out in the rehabilitation of Uttarakhand after the floods and the LANDSLIDEs six months back? The voice of the CROONER (Lataji) came over my earphones “Ajnabi kaun ho tum?”

Lulled by the rocking of the train and the SERENER music, I must have dozed off for a while and suddenly woke up TINGLED by the cold breeze coming in through the open door of the compartment. The train was slowing for a halt at the Deoband station.  I caught sight of the sadhu, having alighted the moving train, running behind a man at a surprising pace. I just got a glimpse of the ‘sadhu’ catching him by the EDGING of the sleeve of his green shirt. Wasn’t the man sleeping in the side upper berth in the same green shirt? Theories continued to float in my head.

Later in my hotel room at Haridwar I caught the entire story on the TV news. The ‘sadhu’ turned out to be SP Raman Singh in disguise and he had caught one of the terrorists who had planted bombs in Old Delhi recently.  The caught terrorist had spilled the beans on the plot that was ORCHESTRATed from QATAR and their links with terrorist organizations across EURASIA. This was one narrative that had not crossed my mind. From that day, I gave up on my DOTTY theorizing about my fellow passengers and I now carry chanting beads during journeys!