No 13384, Saturday 23 Oct 2021, Hypatia

 ACROSS

1 Opinions of student lacking principles(5) IDEAS {IDEAlS}
4 Buy from both sides to exchange(5) BANDY {B{AND}Y}
11 Artist’s photo behind ocean(7) PICASSO {PIC}{ASS}{O}
12 Meticulously reboot computer starting this month(7) OCTOBER {REBOOT+Computer*}
13 Condition of one on a horse(5) RIDER (DD)
14 Discover profile’s public(6,3) FIGURE OUT {FIGURE}{OUT}
15 Captures black diamonds opening bids(10) ADBUCTIONS {A{B}{D}UCTIONS}
17 Requests time away from assignments(4) ASKS {tASKS}
19 Partner of footballer, say with Engineer’s salary(4) WAGE {WAG}{E}
21 Heard Spooner collect support for old music ensemble(6,4) STRING BAND {(-b+ST)RING (+B-st)AND}
25 Litigant’s proposal restricting international dispute(9) PLAINTIFF {PLA{I}N}{TIFF}
27 Works for Bush(5) PLANT (DD)
28 Minor, 6, introduced to pilot(7) TRIVIAL {TRI{VI}AL}
29 Fearful swine flu frequently around vacation(7) LEISURE {fEaRfUl SwInE fLu<=}
30 In France, it is guarding royal insignia(5) CREST {C{R}'EST}
31 Bury dad lost by 11, perhaps(5) INTER {paINTER}

DOWN

2 Firm contract to recruit detectives(7) DECIDED {DE{CID}ED}
3 Separate summary(8) ABSTRACT (DD)
5 Flower season’s finally back(6) ASTERN {ASTER}{seasoN}
6 Suspect friend returned promissory notes(7) DUBIOUS {BUD<=}{IOUS}
7 Like drinking gin up in ancient city(6) SPARTA {A{TRAP}S<=}
8 Study to pass quickly without constant struggle(8) CONFLICT {CON}{FLI{C}T}
9 Carol reducing size in hope!(4) SONG  {(-l+S)ONG} Reducing Size= Large (L) replaced by Small (S)
10 Free big rat isn’t underground(6) GRATIS (T)
16 Handy tool?(4,4) NAIL FILE (CD)
18 African counterpart, essentially paying erratically over time(8) EGYPTIAN {countErpart}{PAYING*} around {T}
19 Animal twisting foot with one twig oddly(6) WAPITI {PAW<=}{I}{TwIg}
20 Hot garlic sauce ultimately kept in ice(7) GLACIER {GARLIC*} around {saucE}
22 Generally, a student’s first real uniform gets crumpled(2,1,4) AS A RULE {A}{Student}{REAL+U*}
23 Proper rag picked up for chores(6) DUTIES {~ DUE TEASE}
24 Rock singers without resistance to change(6) GNEISS {SINGErS*}

26 Covid: Lesser cases while away(4) IDLE (T)

Reference List

Student=L, Ocean=O, Black=B, Diamonds=D, Time=T, Partner of footballer=WAG, Engineer=E, International=I, 6=VI, In France, it= C'est Royal=R

Detectives=CID, Promissory notes=IOUs, Constant=C, Time=T, One=I, Uniform=U, Resistance=R

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Reference list word, Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Opposite indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

This is to warn you of a certain type of person like Mr.Sharma. By the time you finish reading this you will FIGURE OUT why I say so. AS A RULE, you will find this type of person sitting on the stone bench, adjacent to the petunia PLANT, in the park in your housing society, never mind that it is OCTOBER and the sky is overcast. He has a NAIL FILE in hand but no one has ever seen him use it on his nails. He is ostensibly there watching his grandson, a RIDER of a baby scooty. But his real motive is to ensnare one person every day into a conversation. It all starts quite TRIVIALly as he ASKS you, “you are in Flat 805 in H block, right?”. Please be warned that even if you reside in the said flat, it would be better to mumble something to the contrary and not pause. If you make the mistake of saying, “yes, Uncle”, be prepared to collect the WAGEs of your sin.  You might as well forget all IDEAS of completing the shopping, picking up the Amazon delivery from the watchman and dropping your daughter for her STRING BAND practice. He has the DUBIOUS distinction of not letting anyone go away when he has DECIDED to perform this seeming act of ABDUCTION.

 

The difference between you and him is you have DUTIES and no LEISURE and he vice versa- and therein lies the CONFLICT. In an IDLE act of thoughtlessness, if you sit by him on the bench, within the next 10 minutes he will extract all the info about you, maybe even about your Aadhaar card (on which your name is misspelt). He would say, “O, Gopalan is your father, I know him back from the days when he was an AGM in State Bank.”  There is no use telling him, “No, my father has retired from ISRO”. It is best to maintain an ABSTRACT silence because either way he is going to BANDY about how he bulldozed his way to a loan (for a SONG of an interest rate) from Gopalan of State Bank 20 years ago and how he got the gift of a clock GRATIS from him. Probably poor Mr.Gopalan just wanted to tear himself away from this motor mouth. INTER alia, he will launch into how he had a run-in with the promoter of the building society. If you want to escape, the only strategy is to maintain a GNEISS like rock-silence or the cold countenance of a GLACIER atop a Himalayan CREST, making him wonder if you have a sound hearing. You can also draw some modern art like PICASSO on the sand with your toes. Results not guaranteed, but what is the harm in trying?

 

My advice is let your favourite SONG play in your head, loud enough to drown out this monumental bore. And while at it, just pray for Mr.Sharma’s daughter-in-law to come along, because she is the only one known to be capable of freezing a charging Mr.Sharma on his tracks.