No 13408, Monday 22 Nov 2021, Dr. X

Solution to 26A 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   Where bowler might be difficult to understand? (5,4,4) ABOVE ONES HEAD [DD]

8   Spar with American in scrap (5) JOUST {JO{US}T}

9   Inane fellow tottering around drunk on retirement is immature (9) INFANTILE {INANE+F}* over {LIT<=}

11 Devilishly cool female on vacation meets hunks heartily in jamboree (10) INFERNALLY {IN}{Fe..lE}{R{huNks}ALLY}

12 Cheese in gala, largely first-class (4) FETA {FETe}{A}

14 Visitor on tour covering provincial capital (7) TORONTO [T]

16 Forceful detectives about to arrest intoxicated star (7) DRASTIC {D{STAR*}IC<=}

17 Forces involved in relief for tsunami (7) EFFORTS [T]

19 Devise trick briefly to control unruly mare (5,2) DREAM UP {D{MARE*}UPe}

21 Appear in despair after losing girl (4) LOOM gLOOM

22 Chart outlined by foreign visitor, one studying about Covid-19, say (10) VIROLOGIST {VIRO{LOG}IST*}

25 Chancy romantic encounter in bed — tad anxious to win back love (5,4)  BLIND DATE {IN+BED+TAD}* over {L} (Correction - {BED+TAB}* around - {NIL<=})

26 Rust on most of strut rotating machine part (5) R?T?R (Addendum - ROTOR {ROT}{ROd<=} - See comments))

27 Perjury by trafficker about illegal sale at retro bar (5,8) FALSE EVIDENCE {F{SALE*}{DIVE<=}ENCE}

DOWN

2   One deceiving student, caught by guard (7) BLUFFER {B{L}UFFER}

3   Modify to include entire broadcast relating to treatment of animals (10) VETERINARY {V{ENTIRE*}ARY}

4   Yes, in France and Germany, it’s a mystic device (5) OUIJA {OUI}{JA}

5   Boundary around a field, poorly raked (9) ENFILADED {EN{A+FIELD}*D}

6   Try to find number in booth (4) HUNT {HU{N}T}

7   Silly tirades, most jejune (7) ARIDEST*

8   Pregnant after brief affair? Me too! (4,3,4) JOIN THE CLUB [CD] (Addendum - {IN THE CLUB}<=>{JOb} - See comments)

10 One freeing top American criminal (11) EMANCIPATOR*

13 Track model abandoning show in resort (4,6) RACE COURSE {R{ACt}ECOURSE}

15 Determined old boy, popular in country (9) OBSTINATE {OB}{ST{IN}ATE}

18 Free, endless ice-cream soda around American state (7) FLORIDA {FLO{RID}At}

20 Many mention about conducting one operation primarily relating to cell division (7) MEIOTIC {M}{CITE<=} over {1}{Op...n}

23 Compile book describing about symbols in ancient manuscripts (5) OBELI [T<=]

24 Advantage increases with Australia’s opener dismissed for duck (4) ODDS (-a+o)ODDS

Reference List

Fellow = F, Cool = IN, Girl = G, Bar = DIVE, Student = L, Yes in French = OUI, Yes in German = JA, Number = N, Model = T, Old Boy = OB, Many = M

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

Ruth Bishop, flew in from FLORIDA to TORONTO to address a scientific congress of VIROLOGISTS.  She was a woman who had come up by her own EFFORTS in this INFERNALLY difficult field of virology, staging a successful HUNT for a tiny viral particle that was only one-billionth of a metre. This little monster causes INFANTILE diarrhoea – a disease that takes the toll of about 5 lakh infants every year, all over the world. She had named the virus ‘rotavirus” because of the similarity of its shape to the [THIS WORD WILL BE ADDED LATER] wheel. This virus also afflicts young calves in dairy farms, as any VETERINARY practitioner knows.

Now, if I tell you the details of her research, I am sure it will go ABOVE ONE’S HEAD (including mine!). Suffice it to say, she overcame the ODDS, by her OBSTINATE persistence, and her innovativeness. She had devised a DRASTICally unconventional way to grow the virus- using MEIOTIC cell culture. She was not bogged down by her initial scientific papers getting rejected by peer reviewers, marked with red OBELI and with the ARIDEST of comments, some even accusing her of giving FALSE EVIDENCE, all but short of calling her a BLUFFER. I guess most of the seniors who reviewed her papers could not digest the fact that a young woman had done what they could not do.

In Toronto, she took to the podium and enthralled her knowledgeable audience with the process   of discovery of the rotavirus. But it is her final message that held the most appeal.  I quote: “The real JOUST is not between virologists but between the virologist and the virus. If you DREAM UP big, stay focussed and never quit, you will come out a winner in the RACE COURSE of research. Do so and you can JOIN THE CLUB of people like Salk and Sabin, Epstein and Barr. There are many LOOMing threats from viruses to humans. Let us put our joint efforts to become the EMANCIPATORS of mankind”.  I unquote. The thunderous ovation she got that night is a signal that the scientific world is changing, albeit slowly.

P.S. Ruth Bishop and her work on rotavirus is real. I could not help adding a little spice to the story.