No 13427, Tuesday 14 Dec 2021, Karaoke

Solution to 15D 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.

Grid has unches in 1D and 20D.

ACROSS

9   Doctor Zhivago at last enthralled by siren on the sleeping bag (7) BEDROLL {BE{DR}{z...gO}LL}

10 Infectious disease caught Lahore in a frenzy (7) CHOLERA {C}{LAHORE*}

11 Muslim leader rules 50% of American state (5) CALIF CALIFornia

12 Short-living plants pathetic daily stories (3,6) DAY LILIES {DAILY*}{LIES}

13 Powerful contagious disease crossing zone taking half-time near Luxembourg (11) INFLUENTIAL {INFLUEN{TIme}zA}{L}

16 What a street entertainer would do to collect monies? Throw the bowler and beat? (4,3,3,5) PASS THE HAT ROUND {PASS}{THE}{HAT}{ROUND}

18 Channels milk and rest perhaps? Think outside the box (5,6) SMALL SCREEN {ChAnNELS+MiLk+RESt}*

22 Corrupt constables ignore offenders heartily at bars (9) OBSTACLES {COnSTABLES}*

24 He collects information in a bar (5) AGENT {A}{GEN}{T}

25 Handicapped men in the mainland without power to recall (7) AMNESIA {A{MEN*}SIA}

26 It is a pain in the ear to leave partners in homesickness (7) OTALGIA nOsTALGIA

DOWN

1   Counter move shortly in a transport (6) ABACUS {A}{B{ACt}US}

2   You get it from hint, selecting this way! (5) ODDLY [CD] Get what? (Addendum - hInT Definition by example - See comments)

3   Fight with racket at the movie, Kelvin killed at last (8) CONFLICT {CON}{FLICk}{aT}

4   Willing boy goes after girl (4) GLAD {LAD}<=>{G}

5   Do you fume? Don’t be childish! (3,4,3) ACT YOUR AGE {ACT}{YOU}{RAGE}

6   Allotment without right mixture (6) POTION POrTION

7   Tasty meat shop is palatial, well-disposed (9) DELICIOUS {DELI}{spaCIOUS}

8   Provided adornment to movable asset held without initial hesitation (8) TASSELED {ASSET+hELD}*

14 It protects pets from bites in free-for-all with heartless cattle (4,6) FLEA COLLAR {FOR+ALL+CAttLE}

15 Senator intervenes as and when violent activities are committed by hired guns (9) ?S?A?S?N? (Addendum - ASSASSINS {AS}{S}{AS}{SINS} - See comments)

16 Rustic friend protects like mountain (8) PASTORAL {P{AS}{TOR}AL}

17 You could see it in airport perhaps at a corner, nothing is free! (4-1-3) RENT-A-CAR {AT+A+CoRNER}*

19 Get in touch with oddly missing ladies in fairy tale (6) LIAISE {LI{lAdIeS}E}

20 Alien in support of unknown double-cross (6) BETRAY {B{ET}RA}{Y}

21 Lower yourself. Plan failed to have succeeded (5) DEIGN DEsIGN

23 Predecessors of Tipu get injection! (4) SHOT {St}{Hi}{Op}{Tu}

Reference List

Caught = C, Zone = Z, Luxembourg = L, Partners = N,S(North and South in game of Bridge), Kelvin = K, Girl = G, Right = R, Well = SPA, Senator = S, Mountain = TOR, Alien = ET, Support = BRA, Unknown = Y

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

Roy Williams had lived all his life in the comforts of CALIF. He had taken up a new job in which he had to LIAISE between various American NGOs and African nations below the poverty line. He tried to get his work done mostly by phone and mail but flying in person to those nations was sometimes needed. He was prone to getting severe OTALGIA during flights and so he hated flying. This time, he had been forced by an INFLUENTIAL NGO to go to Kinshasa for a personal meeting with the Health Minister of The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They were to discuss how best to distribute the new oral CHOLERA vaccine to the PASTORAL communities living on the upper reaches of the Congo River. Apparently, the OBSTACLES were many - maintaining a cold chain till the last mile, making sure that the local AGENT does not make a quick buck by selling the free vaccine for some CDF (the Congolese Franc) and so on.

He had just dozed off in the flight after a ‘DELICIOUS” airline meal and a sweet POTION of wine. He was dreaming of the DAYLILIES that grew on a pot in his office, when he was woken up by the abrupt chatter. He rubbed his eyes and squinted at the SMALL SCREEN on the back of the seat ahead. CNN had just broken the news about the escalation of CONFLICT in DRC. The security guards (kadagos) who had been trained personally by the President of Congo from their childhood to be loyal soldiers had BETRAYed him, turned ASSASSINS and had SHOT at the President. He was supposedly critical, who knows, maybe even dead.

So, it was with rising fear that Roy Williams landed at Kinshasa. His instinct was to take the first flight back home from the airport itself, but most outgoing flights had been cancelled. ODDLY, a RENT-A-CAR service was still working and he did the sanest thing to do - drive to the American Embassy instead of his hotel.  He thought that would be a safe haven but just he was standing at the gate of the Embassy, waiting among a hundred others, there was a bomb blast a few metres away. Roy Williams was knocked off his feet and he has AMNESIA for the events of the next day.  He does not still remember the BEDROLL he had to share with a fellow American or how they had to PASS THE HAT AROUND to collect money for buying their food.

The health minister usurped the Presidency in the turmoil and he DEIGNed to release some of those holed up in the Embassy. The only name familiar to the minister was Roy Williams’ and so our man was first on the list of evacuees. He jumped up from joy like a madman until the US Consul General chastised him saying, “Williams, will you please ACT YOUR AGE”? After this traumatic experience, Roy Williams, quit his job and has become a consultant for ABACUS international, an education start-up that does not require such dangerous travel.