No 12901, Saturday 04 Apr 2020, Vulcan

Day 11 of 21 Stay safe at home

ACROSS
1   It is wavering in a frenzy state (4,8) WEST VIRGINIA {IT+IS+WAVERING*}
10 English club // magazine (7) ARSENAL (DD)
11 She flies from Scandinavia to Romania (7) AVIATOR (T)
12 Quarters in a vessel where dogs are kept (6) KENNEL {KE{NN}EL}
13 Corrupt nationalist leader’s government ending after 10 years (8) DECADENT {DECADE}{Nationalist}{governmenT}
15 Financial expert more positive after change of rate (9) TREASURER {RATE*}{SURER}
16 Try a flavour (5) TASTE (DD)
17 With vacation starting off, knit (5) WEAVE {W}{lEAVE}
19 King’s photo gets strong criticism (9) PHILIPPIC {PHILIP}{PIC}
22 Leaves one woman after another (8) ROSEMARY {ROSE}{MARY}
24 Simply occupied by training in public (6) OPENLY {O{PE}NLY}
26 Drink, breathe, drunk (4,3) HERB TEA {BREATHE*}
27 Free-range eggs consumed with aromatic herb (7) OREGANO {OO} around {RANGE*}
28 Accomplishments native scheme brought about (12) ACHIEVEMENTS {NATIVE+SCHEME*}

DOWN
2   Significance of German city church (7) ESSENCE {ESSEN}{CE}
3   Teens seen rioting in this state (9) TENNESSEE  {TEENS+SEEN*}
4   Do nothing during paid leave (4) IDLE (T)
5   Tree part figure reproduced (10) GRAPEFRUIT {PART+FIGURE*}
6   Top advocate in city (5) NOIDA {NO I}{DA}
7   Monroe, say, with a basically cool hairdo (7)  ACTRESS {A}{Cool}{TRESS}
8   Without leader, group making noise (6) RACKET {bRACKET}
9   Thrash horse in pen (6) WRITHE {WRIT{H}E}
14 Pressure on an emperor to develop a particular empire (6,4) PROPER NAME {P}{AN+EMPEROR*}
16 Ending anecdote with silence, say (9) TAILPIECE {~TALE PEACE}
17 A line about your old-fashioned dignitary (6) WORTHY {ROW<=}{THY}
18 Country, not a large one (7) AUSTRIA {AUSTRalIA}
20 Put an end to being jazzy — leaves out perhaps an ornament (7) PENDANT {Put+AN+END+To*}
21 Old country with pricey, lonely housing (6) CEYLON (T)
23 Suit and tie (5) MATCH (DD)
25 Finally completed an over (4) DONE {completeD}{ONE}

Reference List

Quarters=NN, With=W, Photo=Pic, Training=PE, Eggs=OO
Church=CE, Top=Noi(No 1), Advocate=DA, Horse=H, Pressure=P, Your old-fashioned=Thy, Large=L, An=One

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Opposite indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Jeet Sax, a handsome AVIATOR, had grown up in TENNESSEE, where his Indian parents, the Saxenas, hailing from NOIDA, had emigrated when Jeetendra was a toddler. He was topper from the WEST VIRGINIA flying school. He had become well-known for his ACHIEVEMENTS of solo-flying rescue operations of stranded Appalachian mountaineers. He also ran a  boutique cafe, specializing in Oriental and Mediterranean flavors. ROSEMARY HERB TEA, with a dash of GRAPEFRUIT ESSENCE , OREGANO and  CEYLON cinnamon, the cafe's signature dish was hailed for its unique aroma.  

Ms. Natasha, an ACTRESS from AUSTRIA, who had come for a film shoot in Charleston, WV, fell in love not just with that heady brew but also with Jeet Sax, the dashing owner of the cafe. Their TASTEs MATCHed well and after a whirlwind coutship, soon the engagement was DONE. The unusual pair was fodder for IDLE gossip and the local tabloid, OPENLY flashed pictures of Natasha, wearing a PROPER platinum PENDANT, with Jeet's NAME inscribed on it. The DECADENT lensman of course focussed more on Natasha's WORTHY assets than just her neckwear. 

Adam Doggerty, the TREASURER of the local KENNEL club and a friend of Jeet, was incensed and raised a RACKET. Adam wrote a blistering PHILIPPIC to the tabloid but I don't imagine that the reporter was left WRITHing. 

The TAILPIECE of  this little tale was that within a few weeks the tabloid broke the news of the annulment of the engagement of Jeet and Natasha and the engagement of Natasha to Adam. The lesson WEAVEd into the tale, is that the ARSENAL of handsomeness,  charm and money is no match to good old chivalry, when it comes to winning a woman's heart.

No 12900, Friday 03 Apr 2020, Anon

Day 10 of 21 Stay safe at home

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Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS
1   Shy, love the heartless wolf (6) COYOTE {COY}{0}{ThE}

4   Incentive to behead for disloyalty (6) REASON tREASON
9   Boyfriend starts by enlisting an understudy (4) BEAU Acrostic
10 Concise diet of biscuit (10) SHORTBREAD {SHORT}{BREAD}
11 First off, imagine odd conundrum (6) ENIGMA iMAGINE*
12 Takes for granted first page of summaries (8) PRESUMES {Page}{RESUMES}
13 American birds murder loved ones, we hear (9) KILLDEERS {KILL}{DEERS}(~dears)

15 Righteousness of baked dish at Turkey’s boundaries (5) PIETY {PIE}{Tu...y}
16 Noose for girl in love (5) LASSO {LASS}{0}
18 Bans me coming back to watering holes, departs (9) EMBARGOES {ME<=}{BAR}{GOES}
22 Fabric for spies’ relatives (8) MOLESKIN {MOLES}{KIN}

23 Run away from Central Europe for wool (6) FLEECE {FLEE}{C}{E}
25 Out of the blue, yet, doctors refuse none (10) UNFORESEEN*
26 Implements rise rapidly from end to end (4) OARS (-s)ORA(+s)S
27 Barbed alien in distress signals Oriental (6) SETOSE {S{ET}OS}{E}
28 Vipers have calculators (6) ADDERS [DD]

DOWN
1   Enchain doctor in South Indian city (7) CHENNAI*
2   Possibly no guy is not new (5) YOUNG* Not new?
3   One who makes will starts tallying property (7) TESTATE {Ta...g}{ESTATE}
5   Oriental returns, makes contact with judge (6) ESTEEM {E}{MEETS<=}
6   Covering his ground, cook… (9) SHROUDING*
7   … is most close to eastern building (7) NEAREST*
8   Isolated to protect madmen at sea (13) COMPARTMENTED*
14 Oaf protects remains from attacks (6,3) LASHES OUT {L{ASHES}OUT}
17 Sailor, starts off healthy, starts speaking to crowds (7) ABOUNDS {AB}{sOUND}{Sp...g}
19 Connected with a second offence, was penalized (7) AFFINED {A}{oFf...e}{FINED}
20 Odd dean, twenty, from start to finish, requests repeats (7) ENCORES {dEaN}{(-s)CORE(+s)S}
21 Athletes from Osaka even rise in revolt (6) SKIERS {oSaKa}{RISE*}
24 Gazelle, say, shrugs off worker to run away (5) ELOPE antELOPE

Reference List
Love = 0, Central = C, Europe = E, Alien = ET, Oriental = E, Sailor = AB, Worker = ANT

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Liza Turner, a YOUNG woman, was to inherit a fortune when her uncle Tom had died TESTATE and named her in the will as she was the NEAREST of kin. Tom had built up his ESTEEM as a Biscuit King, as his brand of butter SHORTBREAD sold by the millions. Tom, in his fifties, had been healthy all his life, being an avid SKIER and birder.  So, the REASON for his sudden death, when he was out on a trip to track KILLDEERS at COYOTE Country, a beach town on the Pacific coast, was an ENIGMA SHROUDed in a mystery. The coroner had indicated that it could be from the bite of a venomous ADDER, but the sheriff, Dick Copper was not convinced. The sheriff PRESUMEd that it was murder for gain. The so-called fang mark was high up on the calf of the dead man and the sheriff knew that adders can't bite that high and that too through the thick MOLESKIN trousers and FLEECE stocking. Searching the site carefully, the sheriff's men discovered a  barb. Chemical analysis revealed that it was coated with curare. That tipped Dick Copper to look for a native American Indian perpetrator. An UNFORESEEN development was Liza ELOPing with her BEAU. They were tracked down and the Sioux lover on grilling admitted that he had LASHEd OUT at Tom from behind with a SETOSE LASSO with poisoned barbs. Liz and her lover were put in a COMPARTMENTED prison. Even The Hindu, a CHENNAI paper, that shuns sensational stories, carried this detective tale!