No 13386, Tuesday 26 Oct 2021, Avtaar

Solution to 22D 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   European leaves Asian behind (6) ASTERN eASTERN

4   Boxes having old-fashioned fasteners (8) PADLOCKS {PA{OLD*}CKS}

9   Quench one’s thirst, drinking straight (6) HONEST [T]

10 Game old wife mostly played in Warangal, on vacation (8) WILDFOWL {OLD+WIFe}* in {Wa...aL}

11 Vivacious imp — delighted about popular children’s game (3,2,3,6) PIG IN THE MIDDLE {IMP+DELIGHTED}* over {IN}

13 Carol sang, accompanied by one playing a horn (3,7) COR ANGLAIS {CAROL+SANG+1}*

14 Order with respect to arresting Avtaar (4) WRIT {WR{I}T}

16 Chief of the private urban community (4) TOWN {The}{OWN}

18 Time when nothing works in Riyad? Ah! (3,4,3) BAD HAIR DAY {RIYAD+AH}* [RA]

21 “The Art of Cooking” — books with novel designs in Word (6,8) WINDOW DRESSING {W}{DESIGNS+IN+WORD}*

23 One surviving, perhaps with pain? That’s shocking! (4,4) LIVE RAIL {LIVER}{AIL}

24 I read about the ultimate in white sugar (6) DEARIE {I+READ}*{w..tE}

25 In the past, stop a rescue at sea after onset of storm (8) SURCEASE {A+RESCUE}*<=>{St..m}

26 Jealous fellow — drunk in every party’s conclusion — goes missing (6) ENVIER {IN+EVERy}*

DOWN

1   Tennis legend has trained England’s #1 (4) ASHE {HAS*}{En...d}

2   Peppier African city (7) TANGIER [DD]

3   They were seen wandering in USSR and Siberia, chiefly (8) RUSSIANS {IN+USSR+And+Siberia}* &lit

5   Web media broadcast featuring runaway hit devotional number (5,4,2) ABIDE WITH ME {WEB+MEDIA* over {HIT}*

6   Story about Count’s boy (6) LADDIE {L{ADD}IE}

7   Harry turned florid, drinking hot stew (7) CHOWDER {C{H}OW}{RED<=}

8   Essay describing book by one European in a prominent manner (9) SALIENTLY {SAL{1}{E}{NT}LY}

12 India stalls spreading plants like the Spanish moss (11) TILLANDSIAS*

13 Beds with hollow wheels seen around ancient part of England (9) COTSWOLDS {COTS}{Whe{OLD}elS}

15 One in Cologne street — a German scientist (8) EINSTEIN {EIN}{ST}{EIN} 

17 Convinced now? (7) WONOVER {NOW}* [RA]

19 Pennies, surprisingly, are about 67% Indian (7) DENARII {ARE+INDIan}*

20 Android — for the people, ultimately a source of enlightenment (2,4) BOTREE {BOT}{foR}{thE}{p...lE} Enu should have been (2,4) See comments

22 Does fine, giving up yield (4) ?E?R (Addendum - DEER DEfER - See comments)

Reference List

European = E, Popular = IN, With = W, Harry = COW, Hot = H, Book = NT, One and A in German = EIN, Street = ST, Fine = F

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

Jim Smith heard the PADLOCKS click after the Arab prison guard shoved him into the cell. He had been off-loaded from the ship on which he was a stowaway at the TANGIER port. The HONEST captain of the ship did what was right in getting rid of the LADDIE at the first port-of-call after he was discovered hiding behind a mast ASTERN, while crossing the English Channel. The young man from a small TOWN in COTSWOLDS, the Captain admitted, had WON OVER many hearts among the deckhands, with his eager face and friendly banter. They had shared their quota of CHOWDER with the boy and that was all he had to eat since boarding the ship at Dover. While the Moroccan police came aboard for Jim, the Captain whispered something into his ears “DEARIE, ................." So saying, he had thrust a few PENNIES into Jim’s pocket. He could not bear to see the worry WRIT over the boy’s face.

Left alone in his cell, Jim fell asleep on the floor. He dreamt of the English summer, when he would go hunting WILDFOWL and DEER, the local tavern where he would play the COR ANGLAIS and further back in time, when as a small boy he would play PIG IN THE MIDDLE with his friends. This idyllic world around him had collapsed when his dear papa, his only living relation, blew his brains out with the hunting rifle one night. Jim just wanted to get away from the pain of it all and like all true blood English laddies, he took the next train to Dover. After some months of doing odd jobs at the port, bitten by the eagerness to sail, he boarded the MV EINSTEIN sailing to Alexandria via Tangier.

Jim hadn’t heard the expression, but the next day at the court was a BAD HAIR DAY. He could not make out what the police and the magistrate asked him in some foreign tongue. He shut himself out with the only prayer song he knew that was repeatedly playing in his mind “ABIDE WITH ME”- particularly the lines..

The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide

When other helpers fail and comforts flee

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me

Suddenly, he heard a clear voice ring out in English. “Jim, I am here to take care of things”. With some whispers from the stranger to the right ears, some oiling of hands at the right places and some discreet phone calls, the man arranged for Jim to be released soon from detention. Jim still thinks it is the Lord who abided with him when the darkness deepened.

Now, you don’t have to sit under the BO TREE to be enlightened on how this magic came about. He was the brother of the captain of the ship, working in the British Embassy at Morocco. But as they say, we are all instruments of the Lord, aren’t we? And the Lord chooses which instrument to use and when!