No 13385, Monday 25 Oct 2021, Vulcan

Solution to 8D 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   Perhaps light, funny and something hilarious (5-7) THIGH-SLAPPER*

10 Wyatt to carry silencer (7) EARPLUG {EARP}{LUG}

11 Firm working through this evening (7) TONIGHT {T{ON}IGHT}

12 Have a hunch about Arctic people keeping time (6) INTUIT {IN{T}UIT}

13 End of girl’s answer (8) DISSOLVE {DI'S}{SOLVE}

15 Speaking of Titanic — extremely depressing — it’s sad (9) DICTATING {TITANIC+De...nG}*

16 Old wing’s visual style (2,3) OP ART {O}{PART}

17 Trouble in group settlement (5) UPSET [T]

19 Bug entering a fruit (9) TANGERINE  {T{ANGER}INE} A/Tine? (Correction -{ENTERING+A}* - See comments)

22 With ease swimming in these waters (5,3) WHITE SEA*

24 What a writer may use to eliminate characters (6) ERASER [CD]

26 Place and day to wear a robe (7) ADDRESS {A}{D{D}RESS}

27 European guy worried to come out (7) EMANATE {E}{MAN}{ATE}

28 Stop after large train had got derailed (5,2,1,4) GRIND TO A HALT {L+TRAIN+HAD+GOT}*

DOWN

2   Woman’s quote about a nonconformist (7) HERETIC {HER}{CITE<=}

3   Good home/retreat and a new town basically to roam (9) GALLIVANT {G}{VILLA<=}{A}{N}{Town}

4   Indication of warnings ignored (4) SIGN [T]

5   Terrible strain man finds severe (10) ASTRINGENT {STRAIN*}{GENT}

6   Pressure on workers to make clothes (5) PANTS {P}{ANTS}

7   Symbols of royalty relating to celebration around India (7) REGALIA {RE}{GAL{I}A}

8   It means the end time (6) ?E?I?D (Addendum - PERIOD [DD] - See comments)

9   Authenticate an examination, say (6) ATTEST (~ a test)

14 Upset it’s poorly garnished on the outside (10) DISTRESSED {D{ITS*}RESSED}

16 Go too far past a stretch of water (9) OVERREACH {OVER}{REACH}

17 Expose one in Paris with clout (6) UNWRAP {UN}{W}{RAP}

18 Climb to go for a party (7) SHINDIG {SHIN}{DIG}

20 Establish a booth at home initially (7) INSTALL {STALL}<=>{IN}

21 Student starting off a profitable venture (6) EARNER lEARNER

23 Adhesive ultimately found in tree, one kind of resin (5) ELEMI {EL{a...vE}M}{1}

25 Vulcan gets second reminder (4) MEMO {ME}{MO}

Reference List

Time = T, Girl = DI, Old = O, Day = D, European = E, Large = L, Good = G, New = N, Pressure = P, India = I, One in French = UN, With = W, Second = MO

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

ELEMI Dickens is always UPSET and DISTRESSED when people misspell and mispronounce her first name as Emily. TONIGHT, she is at a SHINDIG, thrown by Alex Johnson, one of her batchmates from the Chicago Art School, where they are studying OP-ART. Not one known to GALLIVANT, she is wishing she could simply DISSOLVE from the scene but Alex is a dear friend and it would break his heart to vanish. She wishes that she had EAR PLUGs to shield herself from the noisy band and even more to shut out the inane THIGH-SLAPPERs from the emcee. She finds a bar-stool and sits holding a glass of TANGERINE juice and is covertly playing an ERASER challenge game on her phone.

 

So, she is surprised when a young man EMANATEs from the crowd, walks up to her and says, “Hi, Ms. Elemi Dickens, I’m Chris EARNER” and offers his hand. She is uncertain if this was a SIGN asking her to join in dance or simply a pick-up line and she hesitantly shakes the hand. Chris INTUITs that she is feeling totally out-of-place and says “shall we take a walk in the garden?”. She normally declines such proposals, but her interest is kindled by his ADDRESSing her by her proper first name. She thinks that ATTESTs a thoroughness of mind, something that is also evident from the starched PANTS he is wearing and a T-shirt that says “Save the WHITE SEA beluga-WWF”. They take a stroll in the garden and within a short PERIOD, Elemi is seen holding hands with this new acquaintance. The loud music, the noisy shouts from those partying hard and in fact the whole world around her seems to GRIND TO A HALT. ‘This is not my Prince Charming with all his REGALIA’, says an ASTRINGENT rational voice from within her. But the emotional voice quells that objection saying ‘look, he has UNWRAPped me from the shell I have been hiding in’.

 

A final MEMO to the dear reader: you are free to choose the ending of your choice:

1.     ED & CE have a lasting relation

2.     ED & CE have a brief relation and then they go their separate ways

3.     ED & CE never meet each other

 

Note: The ending you choose will DICTATE your character respectively as

A.    A romantic optimist

B.    A level headed realist

C.    A hopeless pessimist