No 13416, Wednesday 01 Dec 2021, Sunnet

Solution to 4A 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   Regard silver found in pad (6) HOMAGE {HOM{AG}E}

4   Goodness! Sick room is next to bar in town (8) ?A?C?I?Y (Addendum SANCTITY {SAN}{C{T}ITY} - See comments)

10 Adore dual-enhanced text-to-speech feature (4,5) READ ALOUD*

11 Hesitation to plead in front of the lady (5) BEGUM {UM}<=>{BEG}

12 Chance an illness going with doubly exposed bikers (5) FLUKE {FLU}{biKErs}

13 Only one or one hundred (9) SINGLETON {SINGLE}{TON}

14 Perhaps London’s wealth (7) CAPITAL [DD]

16 Resistance in muslim leader’s city (4) AGRA {AG{R}A}

19 Keep backing Tesla (4) FORT {FOR}{T}

21 Ms. Mirza is in charge of branch (7) RADIATE {RA{DIA}TE}

24 Kit, Sally and staff featured in business newspaper (9) EQUIPMENT {E{QUIP}{MEN}T}

25 Review of uranium discovered in cesspool (3,2) SUM UP {SUM{U}P}

26 Revolutionary featured in advertisement is hurt (5) ACHED {A{CHE}D}

27 Brother? It is the woman’s countryman (9) BRITISHER {BR}{IT}{IS}{HER}

28 Hired nurse leaned (8) ENLISTED {EN}{LISTED}

29 Very first European group is found outside (6) REALLY {R{Eu...n}ALLY} 

DOWN

1   He won’t compromise with actual mobile cafe (8) HARDFACE {HARD}{CAFE*}

2   Copper interrupts lunch given to old man and accepts the error (3,5) MEA CULPA {MEA{CU}L}{PA}

3   Dangerous vault (5) GRAVE [DD]

5   Supplements notice given to lawyer outside library (7) ADDENDA {AD}{DEN}{DA}

6   Colour of horse changed without some emulsifier (6,3) COBALT RED {COB}{ALTeRED} 

7   Bars in Spain got shuttered (6) INGOTS [T]

8   God of death protects one river (6) YAMUNA {YAM{UN}A}

9   Part of labour code in front (6) MORSEL {L}<=>{MORSE}

15 Bid to overturn waste pods (3,6) TWO SPADES*

17 Thanks to horrible jam near aerospace company building (3,5) TAJ MAHAL {TA}{JAM*}{HAL}

18 Afternoon event where Peg shouted at defendant (3,5) TEA PARTY (~tee){TEA}{PARTY}

20 Medium to bifurcate high-pitched vibration (7) TREMBLE {TRE{M}BLE}

21 Sell on train (6) RETAIL {RE}{TAIL}

22 Former wife and a man running outside a compound (6) HEXANE {H{EX}{AN}E}

23 Ruler’s face is mostly healthy (6) MUGHAL {MUG}{HALe}

25 Grab dates, say (5) SEIZE (~sees)

Reference List

Sick room = SAN(Sanitorium), Bar = T, Resistance = R, Tesla = T, Brother = BR, Nurse = EN(Enrolled Nurse), Notice = AD, Lawyer = DA, One = UN, Labour = L, Thanks = TA, Medium = M 

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

Quietly flows the YAMUNA as I sit on its banks and my mind goes back three and a half centuries…

Khurram is an aging dejected man. He is held captive in the AGRA FORT, at the MUGHAL CAPITAL. In his enfeebled state the only thing he can remember is the ethereal beauty that RADIATEd from BEGUM Arjumand Banu,  and how he had ACHED for her when she was away for each of her confinements. REALLY, how could the same womb produce 2 sons who were polar opposites- the liberal Dara and the HARDFACE Muhi-al Din Muhammed, who has SEIZED power in the bloodiest manner?

The moulvi READS ALOUD with all the SANCTITY, a verse from the Holy Quran before Khurram sits for an evening meal, which is only a MORSEL- not those famed dinners he had lavished upon in his heydays. Roughly translated it means “you will not attain the reward, until you spend from that which you love”.  “Did I not make the Roza-e-Munavvara, a HOMAGE to my love for her,” Khurram thinks, as his weak eyes catch a silhouette of that famous GRAVE in a mirror. “Had I only been younger, I would have placed INGOTS of gold instead of glass in this- my love symbol. Why, I would have even replaced these unsightly COBALT RED stones in this fort with white marble”. “The Mercy of Allah, I at least have my doting Padsha Begum with me, who has chosen to be a SINGLETON to look after me” So go the thoughts of the sick man….

Just before the dinner, the guards file in with an ornate box on which is written “the King, your son, sends this gift, to let know that the son has not forgotten his father”. Knowing Muhi-al Din Muhammed, there is no joy on Khurram’s face as his hands TREMBLE to open the box.

I am broken from my reverie by the pain and revulsion evident on the face of Khurram seeing the mutilated severed head of his dear Dara in that box. History tells us that Khurram became a walking corpse that evening, spending his final days gazing silently out of a jharokha.

ADDENDA:

1.     Well, let me say ‘MEA CULPA’ for disguising the identity of my characters in this tale with their lesser-known names.

2.     You can find the true identity merely by FLUKE or by some inspired guessing or by reading the BRITISHER William Irvine’s Mughal Chronicles.

3.     I invite you to identify the real names of the following 6 which I have ENLISTED, in the comments section below.

        a)    Khurram

        b)    Arjumand Banu

        c)    Dara

        d)    Muhi-al Din Muhammed

        e)    Roza-e-Munavvara

        f)    Padsha Begum