No 9717, Friday 18 Dec 09, Nita Jaggi

ACROSS
 1  - One may throw a party to bid them goodbye! (8) - FAREWELL [CD]
5  - Lively dance on the carpet (4) - SHAG [DD]
 9  - Pious leader has a short time for the duke (8) - REVEREN(-d+t)T
10 - Kofi’s second American lawyer is in a state of bliss (6) - {ANAN}{DA}
12 - Gumbo ingredient is acceptable by soldiers (4) - {OK}{RA}

13 - Payment of the bill for a small community (10) - SETTLEMENT [DD]
15 - It may be granted to the male staff at the time of their newborn! (9,5) - PATERNITY LEAVE [E]
17 - Terrorist may get shot in this kind of staged killing! (5,9) - CLOSE ENCOUNTER [CD]
21 - Engineer has a right to be in the workshop that is heat-resistant (10) - {RE}{F{R}ACTORY}
22 - Jane Austen’s strange girl (4) - EMMA [E]
25 - Regular Turk, exactly signs an agreement (6) - {T}{R}{E}{A}{T}{Y}
26 - Mates manage to secure your gemstone (8) - AME{THY}ST*

27 - Pinkeye? Can be tender in the morning (4) - SORE [CD]
28 - Left out an issue of the prisoners ordered to follow an elected leader (8) - IN{SPIRER(-son)*} Where did IN come from?
DOWN
 1  - The French cover the tube in a line in the trench (6) - {F{U}R}{ROW}
 2  - Wanderer has a machine (5) - ROVER [DD]
 3  - Small protuberance on the trimmed plant material taken up (4) - WART(-s)<- )
 4  - Note the new bird lamp (7) - {LA}{N}{TERN}
 6  - Thinner lad is in distress in a remote area (10) - HINTERLAND*
 7  - Drink for a soldier in general is intoxicating (6,3) - {GI}{NGER ALE*}
 8  - Hairdo for a heartless pal is accepted for sex appeal (5) - {P(-a)L}{A}{IT}
11 - Editing mark is anyhow set by the typist in front (4) - STE*{T}
14 - Supporter is in an inner room with a sequence of letters for the performer (10) - {BEN}{EF}{ACTOR}
16 - Lesson of a different kind of human nature (9) - ALOOFNESS*
18 - Money for an official letter (4) - NOTE [DD]
19 - Rower will arrive with us in the country (7) - O{AR}{S}MAN
20 - Uncle turns up thrice with the teacher (6) - {MAS<-}{TER}
21 - Tries to organise the ceremonies (5) - RITES*
23 - Politician in the fringe of Madras always has an alternative (5) - {M}AY{OR} Anno eludes me
24 - Do not start on the way to work (4) - {ST}{OP}


GRID

No 9716, Thursday 17 Dec 09, Nita Jaggi

Most of the clues are absolute nonsense today from the surface reading point of view
ACROSS
 8  - Safe plan for an officer to promote debt collection (6,8) - {CO}P{PER BOTTOMED*} This should have been shown as (6-8) and where did the P come from?
 9  - Foreigner has a queen bird (6) - {SCOT}{ER}

10 - Employing eight in front of a nagging character (8) - {E}{NGAGING} E from eight?
11 - Misfortunes for a group of cabs covering the initial kilometres (8) - {SET}{BAC{K}S*}
13 - They may be the clues solved from left to right (6) - ACROSS [CD]
14 - Hostility in the country to capture its borders (6) - {MALI}{CE} its borders is I and S and not C and E
16 - Request the worker to hold the tap on the street (6) - {BE{H}E}{ST} Tap and H ?
19 - Fish part is cut with a bit of oil in Norway (6) - {TARP*}{O}{N}

21 - Beat signifying the rhythm of life (4-4) - L?B?-D??? (Addendum - LUBB-DUPP [CD] Se comments of Dayquest in comments section- This is a new word for me)
23 - One in an ethnic community in Italy has a disease (8) - BER{I}BER{I}
24 - Scared to be alone in the beginning in the French capital at four (6) - A{F}RAID Anno eludes me
26 - Abandoned side favoured the sudden movement (4,2,3,5) - {LEFT} {IN} {THE} {LURCH}
DOWN
 1  - I yell aloud that it is cold (8) - ICECREAM (~i scream) Should be (3-5) or (3,5)
 2  - Mark the location (4) - SPOT [DD]
 3  - This system has a point (6) - METRIC [E]
 4  - Leaderless mob, severely injured out in the city on the opposite side (7) - (-m){OB}{VERSE(-ely)}
 5  - Do nothing in an administration covering the regular agendas (8) - STA{G}{N}{A}TE
 6  - Left George in a position holding the hard, half head of the turtle (10) - {L}{OGGER{H}E}{(-he)AD}

 7  - Finest kind of mock actions (6) - FEINTS*
12 - Scholar and a couple of learners aim to scribble in the beginning with pens (10) - {BA}{LL}{POINT}{S}
15 - Refers to the companies (8) - CONCERNS [DD]
17 - Gas absent in the first-rate lantern (3,5) - T?? LIGHT (Addendum - {TOP} LIGHT Don't know how though) (Correction thanks to Maddy - TOP (-f)LIGHT)
18 - Cardamom is good in Chile for its variety (7) - EL{AI}CHI* No indication about language
20 - Apes are at the Spanish borders of the eateries (6) - {AT}{EL}{ES}

22 - Church official has a rosary mostly for the French (6) - {BEAD}{LE}
25 - Uncommon part of an umbra region (4) - RARE [T]

GRID