No 12925, Saturday 02 May 2020, Arden

Day 39 of 54 Stay safe at home

ACROSS
1   Restraining — did perhaps break the law by doing it (7,7) INSIDER TRADING {RESTRAINING+DID*}
10 Rob’s returned to seat (5) STOOL {LOOT}{S}<=
11 Harp on shifting time — there are many wards here (9) ORPHANAGE {HARP+ON*}{AGE}
12 Aversion for amount of work partner accepts (7) ALLERGY {ALL{ERG}Y}
13 Follow girl with flower (3,4) DOG ROSE {DOG}{ROSE}
14 Pushed the horse, wading in up river (5) EGGED {GG} in {DEE}<=
16 Doctor must inject drug, there is some change in swelling (9) TUMESCENT {MUST*} around {E}+{CENT}
19 Metal can’t upset a cowboy (9) CATTLEMAN {METAL+CANT}
20 Trainer’s had a change of heart, gets a comfortable seat (5) COUCH {CO(-a+U)CH}
22 Crossover the sides and repeat... (7) ITERATE {I{ThE}RATE}
25 ... work is heavy at the religious academy (7) YESHIVA {IS+HEAVY*}
27 Crafty ideas to acquire money — area where the British set up shop (4,5) EAST INDIA {IDEAS*} around {TIN}+{A}
28 Term’s somewhat lost in translation (5) STINT (T)
29 All ten swirling around — no holds barred here (3-2,9) ALL IN WRESTLING {ALL}{TEN+SWIRLING*}

DOWN
2   In the dark, may be lone source of illumination (4,5) NEON LIGHT {N{LONE*}IGHT}
3   Loafer may go around dreamily (5) IDLER {MAY+IDLER*}= {DREAMILY}
4   Sweetheart, stop getting snug with the surroundings (9) ECOSYSTEM {swEet}{COSY}{STEM}
5   Maybe tide over initial problems, not too hot to handle (5) TEPID {TIDE*] over {Problem}
6   Current carrying electronic signal turns out to be a pain reliever (9) ANALGESIC {A{E+SIGNAL*}C}
7   I had taken up old state (5) IDAHO {I}{HAD<=}{O}
8   Great! one’s gone for sure — was the oldest (7) GREYEST {GRE{-a+YES}T}
9   Property dispute ended on land... (6) ESTATE {disputE}{STATE}
15 ...and a Tamil version could be a pet possession (9) DALMATIAN {AND+A+TAMIL*}
17 He’s loaded one in my luggage (9) MONEYBAGS {M{ONE}Y}{BAGS}
18 Somehow tried to get top university — no one came up with scholarship (9) ERUDITION {TRIED*} around {University}+{NO}{I} <=
19 Fish caught by him over time (7) CHIMERA {C}{HIM}{ERA}

21 Home under hard ground (6) HEARTH {H}{EARTH}
23 Tea-seller’s got a stand (5) EASEL (T)
24 Wood dock workers use essentially (5) ELDER {wELDERs}?
26 Sails woven with fibre (5) SISAL {SAILS*}

Reference List

Amount of work=Erg, Horse=GG, River=Dee, Drug=E, Money=Tin, Area=A
Current=AC, Electronic=E, Old=O, One=A, One=I, Caught=C, Time=Era, Hard=H

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

The year was 1834. Calcutta was becoming the nerve centre of commerce under John Beard ELDER, who had a brief STINT as the Agent of the EAST INDIA company for Bengal. The fledgling Calcutta stock exchange was just a COUCH and a STOOL under a neem tree, where only Europeans traded every Wednesday. This was where the Englishmen shed their veneer of civility in their greed for making a fast buck and the scenes resembled an ALL-IN WRESTLING match. Unlike in the modern bourse, apart from shares of British companies, there was also direct trading of commodities such as jute (a substitute for SISAL), muslin cloth, produce of the CATTLEMeN and even real ESTATE.  This needed a link between the native Indian producers and the English speculators. That connection was provided by Shalom Sassoon (SS), an Aleppo Jew, who was permitted into the exchange as he was fair skinned. He used his CHIMERA status (half European, half native) to advantage.  His intimate contacts on both sides of the colour divide, gave him an unique advantage in those days when INSIDER TRADING was not a crime and soon SS became one of the MONEYBAGS in the Jewish community of Calcutta. 

Having come from a family known for its ERUDITION, SS did not use all his money on just his home and HEARTH. He built a synagogue, a YESHIVA for Talmudic studies and an ORPHANAGE. I must reITERATE that it was his wife Hannah, who EGGED him on to do such charity work. They stepped in during the GREYEST hour of the Calcutta floods, when the TUMESCENT waters of the Hooghly inundated the low-lying slums. The ALLERGY of the East India company for helping out the poor was well-known and so the response of the administration to the crisis was TEPID.  It was left to the Jewish couple to provide shelter to the homeless in the synagogue. They both fell a victim to the cholera that followed and were buried near the synagogue. A single DOG ROSE plant marks their burial spot to this day, even though the Jewish community of the present Kolkata is only a dozen or so. 

No 12924, Friday 01 May 2020, Arden

Day 38 of 40 Stay safe at home

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ACROSS
1   Said to be constructed on ground — initially it could be sort of jerky (7) BILTONG (~built){BILT}{ON}{G}

5   Slip into low gear perhaps (7) MOORAGE {MOO}{GEAR*}
9   Foolish fellow with ego, puts one in a spot (5) IDIOT {I}{D{1}OT}
10 One being & lit. all set to go up in flames (9) IGNITIBLE {1+BEING+LIT}* All set on double duty
11 Servant has a duty, he is revered (9) AYATOLLAH {AY{A}{TOLL}AH}
12 Strict usage allows for some sudden attack (5) ICTUS [T]
13 First casting inside mould is cubic in shape (4) DICE {DI{Ca...g}E}
15 Time to plug extra covers, it’s a pledge (8) MORTGAGE {MOR{T}{GAG}E}
18 Don’t allow to carry tin bottle (8) DECANTER {DE{CAN}TER}
19 Not often will you see in a letter — a reminder (4) RARE [T]
22 Horse — one could be found in Goa or Mangalore, perhaps (5) PINTO [DD]
24 Exaggerated — close by backward point (9) OVERDRAWN {OVER}{WARD<=}{N}
26 Daily work, very essential trait (9) CHARACTER {CHAR}{ACT}{vERy}
27 Flower sample attached to plant (5) INDUS INDUStry
28 Back on, Arden’s off (4-3) REAR-END {RE}{ARDEN*}
29 Complete success in a gallop (4,3) HOME RUN [CD] (Addendum - {HOME}{RUN} - See comments)

DOWN
1   Bond covers thousand acres of lake (6) BAIKAL {BAI{K}{A}L} Name of this lake is stuck in my mind thanks to my Geography teacher in School, Mrs Rama Rao. God bless her soul.

2   Distressed ladies get help, saved (4,5) LAID ASIDE {L{AID}ASIDE*}
3   Lost the election, party becomes better (5) OUTDO {OUT}{DO}
4   Winger’s remorse over the French physician (9) GUILLEMOT {GUIL{LE}{MO}T}

5   Bird breaking many hearts (5) MYNAH {MANY*}{H}

6   Dismissed oil worker to keep things on even keel (9) OUTRIGGER {OUT}{RIGGER}

7   Ploy to get girl out of reach (5) AMBIT gAMBIT
8   However, decreases — only to provide support (4,2) EVEN SO {EVENS}{O}
14 Make way heading North, talk will disappear (9) EVAPORATE {PAVE<=}{ORATE}
16 They are rather placed in the periodic table (4,5) RARE EARTH* Semi&lit
17 Possible merger, also included the plant (9) GERMANDER {GERM{AND}ER*}

20 Washer’s room, right underneath... (6) SPACER {SPACE}{R}
21 ...as one finds bliss finally in marriage (6) UNISON {UNI{b..sS}ON}
23 One slept inside, rose to find a horny beast (5) NYALA {A{LAY}N}<=

24 Chose to take some time and performed the surgery (5) OPTED OPeraTED
25 Pride is missing, there is inner belief in God (5) DEISM [T]

Reference List
Ground = G, Low = MOO, Ego = I, Servant = AYAH, Time = T, Point = N, Daily = CHAR, On = RE, Thousand = K, Acre = A, Party = DO, The in French = LE, Physician = MO, Hearts = H, Girl = G, Only = O, Right = R, One = AN

Dr RKE's TalePiece

Mr.J.PINTO (name changed to protect patient privacy) had OPTED to consult me at my private clinic on a weekend. I had LAID ASIDE my plans of playing golf and had agreed to see him, as he had been referred by a physician friend, who had suspected that Pinto's was a RARE disease, out of a physician's AMBIT.

Mrs.Pinto complained that her husband was often behaving like an IDIOT. I smiled to myself - isn't that how most wives think of their hubbies? EVEN SO, I asked her to elaborate and give an example.  She said that at a party, he had suddenly picked up a DECANTER and dashed it to the ground. He had stared at the guests and appeared to mumbling something and he appeared to be rolling an invisible pair of DICE in his fingers. He had calmed down in a minute. There had been several such incidents.  I questioned JP and his memory of the events seemed to have completely EVAPORATEd. He said, "Doc, I am fine, I suspect my wife is making up some story. But I am troubled by these sounds I hear often. For some 10 seconds, I hear the call of a MYNAH in my left ear 3 or 4 times a day. That is strange as there are no birds in the congested colony we live in".

I spent time diligently doing a physical examination but there was nothing out of CHARACTER. The history led me to suspect an ICTUS of a complex partial seizure. I referred him to INDUS scans for MRI of the brain with gadolinium contrast. Gadolinium, as you know, is a RARE EARTH metal and when its compound is injected intravenously, it lights up the lesions in the brain. JP came back to me the next day and sure enough there was a sinister looking tumor at the REAR END of his amygdala in the right temporal lobe. This accounted for his IGNITIBLE behaviour. I proposed surgery. Since he had no insurance and as their account was already OVERDRAWN his wife had to MORTGAGE her jewels to pay for the operation. In  spite of modern neurosurgical technology (and not to mention my vast experience), I had to OUTDO myself to hit a HOME RUN with this complex and delicate operation. JP was fine after surgery and when I told them that the tumor was benign, they said in UNISON, "Thank God". Such is the power of DEISM.