No.11080, Friday 09 May 2014, Vulcan

Vulcan's gone to a movie "Gone With the Wind" today ;-)
My domain knowledge on this is scrappy (and I am not sure the 's' is required or not) at best, and I have relied on Wiki for identifying theme words ...
E.& O.E.

ACROSS
1 Movie and wine tonight, we had not even planned (4,4,3,4) GONE WITH THE WIND (WINE TONIGHT WE HaD)*
9 One who blunders — person who creates a buzz! (7) BUMBLER (2) A bumble bee
          We have a rare case where a Buzzer is not a bumbler ...
10 Wordplay parsed and the components are spread! (7) ANAGRAM (E) (PARSED*=SPREAD) See comments
11 Group of nine men, without leader, head off to work (6) ENNEAD (mEN kNEAD)
         This word has suddenly become popular with setters!
12 Man of position, one with power, left over with a lot of money (8) SEIGNEUR (SIGNER, ie person with signing authority, with EUro)
14 Finally, one with criminal links arrested in the heart of this city (8) HELSINKI (E LINKS* in HI)
15 Old actress with limitless skill (5) LEIGH (sLEIGHt)
17 At home, I do this, a fixture on the side (5) INSET (IN SET, a variant of sit) See comments
20 Reporters, say, have to study about Marx? (8) COMEDIAN (CON around MEDIA)
          I am not sure which comedian he is referring to: Groucho, Harpo, Zeppo, Chico or Gummo. Delhi-ites may even think of Karl, I think

23 Cairo’s business institutions primarily struggling under constant pressure (8) ISOBARIC (CAIROS B I)*
24 One’s picture in files — it’s all over — peak of egotism (6) SELFIE (FILES* E)
          It would be rather selfie-sh of me to include one here. I could, perhaps, have used the above sketch ...

                                                                                      Cartoon by Rishi

27 City, I note, is in Washington (7) WICHITA (I CHIT in WA)
          I thought this might be linked to the theme, but was unable to find a connection
28 State involved in secret exploitative practice (7) SLAVERY (AVER in SLY)
29 Price you pay for wanting change (11,4) REPLACEMENT COST (E)

DOWN
1 Good, talented Hollywood actor (5) GABLE (G ABLE)
2 Candidate, corrupt one, losing deposit (7) NOMINEE (ONE* around MINE)
          The film did have Oscar nominations, so is this also a theme word?
3 Couple of points about God’s people (7) WALLAHS (W S about ALLAH)
           Time to brush up on my Hobson-Jobson
4 Army reached Atlanta at first, to get to 1’s plantation (4) TARA (TA R A)
5 Bones and shapes (10) TRAPEZIUMS (2)
6 In Geneva, large gathering for a preacher (7) EVANGEL (GENEVA L)* We are more familiar with the variant Evangelist.
7 Person of Asian origin, old British politician, needs no introduction (7) ISRAELI (dISRAELI) Isn't a 'say' or 'perhaps' required for the definition? 
          Gladstone would take umbrage at this reference to Disraeli. He would have probably liked him to be beheaded instead ...
8 Political initiative of the French and English to check the advance (8) DEMARCHE (DE around E around MARCH) See comments
13 Vatican ties cut, controversial halt (10) INACTIVATE (VATICAN TIEs)*
16 Not a friendly clash by any means (5,3) CIVIL WAR (CD)
18 Presently cold inside tunnel — one on top of the mountain! (7) SNOWCAP (NOW C in SAP)
          Remembered a sapper who once 'fessed up to not knowing this meaning of "sap" ;-) My very Best Wishes to him and his wife on their Wedding Anniversary. All the Best, Deepak and Gita.
19 She lived in a palace in Amritsar — inaccessible (7)  TSARINA (T)
21 Regimen players mostly adopted to get to shape (3-4) DIE CAST (DIEt CAST)
22 Use lard and cream, essentially of white sauce (7) ALFREDO (LARD E OF)*
25 Commit a fraud in alien country (5) EGYPT (GYP in ET)
26 Land owned by Fiji’s leaders (4) ISLE (T)

No 11079, Thursday 08 May 2014, Lightning

ACROSS
1   Embarrassed to go back into decline, Democrat drifted away (8) WANDERED {WAN{DER<=}E}{D}
5   Isolated students outside old northeastern highway finally (6) LONELY {L}{O}{NE}{L}{Y}
9   Request from hospital department about a therapy’s limits (8) ENTREATY {ENT}{RE}{A}{TherapY}
10 Compete with two poles at a capital (6) VIENNA {VIE}{NN}{A}
12 Obscure call, at first earsplitting (5) CLOUD {Call}{LOUD}
13 Doctor loots one rug in commotion (9) UROLOGIST {LOOTS+1+RUG}*
14 Empty jail in US state, close to Detroit (6) VACANT {VA}{CAN}{detroiT}
16 Desperate to stop working after entry (2-2-3) DO-OR-DIE {DO-OR}-{DIE}
19 The solo representation for a country (7) LESOTHO*

21 Reward left out of championship game (6) PAYOFF PlAYOFF
23 Warmth shown by fine fellow engineer indeed! (9) AFFECTION {A{F}{F}{E}CTION}
25 Vegetation consisting of flowers? Not quite (5) FLORA FLORAl Not sure if anno is correct See comments
26 Relieve peacekeepers’ burden (6) UNLOAD {UN}{LOAD}
27 Man selling sacred things destroyed icon’s aim (8) SIMONIAC*
28 Attempts short compositions (6) ESSAYS [DD]
29 Serious, extreme nervous disorder (8) NEUROSIS {SERIOUS+N}* &lit

Cartoon by Rishi

DOWN
1   Twist spanner (6) WRENCH [DD]
2   Citizens of India, perhaps have a legitimate shot to begin with (9) NATIONALS {NATION}{A}{L}{S}
3   Correct measure at last (5) EMEND {EM}{END}
4   Give custody of letters from ardent rustic (7) ENTRUST [T]
6   Try weird ploy to go after crude oil market where few players exist (9) OLIGOPOLY {OIL*}{GO}{PLOY*}
7   Discontent about losing borders, genuine (5) ENNUI gENUINe*
8   New eatery is more zestful (8) YEASTIER*
11 Frame of mind of doctor returning to work (4) MOOD {MO}{OD<=}

15 Government that runs on its own? (9) AUTOCRACY [CD]
17 Flowers that fell off a piece of decoration were sent back (9) DAFFODILS {noitaroceD}{A}{FFO}{DILS}<=

18 A repulse turned into delight? (8) PLEASURE*
20 Variety shown by Bartoli — outstanding! (4) OLIO [T]
21 Thoughtful of writer to separate out first edition (7) PENSIVE {PEN}{SIeVE}
22 Performances by people of Denmark outside the border of Copenhagen (6) DANCES {DAN{Copenhagen}ES}
24 Stuffs bells and whistles right away (5) FILLS FrILLS
25 Confound fellow regularly with alternative (5) FLOOR {FeLlOw}{OR}


Words connected to the poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth