N0 10985, Saturday 18 Jan 2014, Lightning

ACROSS

1   Summon to dismantle a bus? Nope (8) SUBPOENA*

5   Old hospital charging high prices — My God! (2,4) OH DEAR {O}{H} {DEAR}

9   Use archaism for appeal (8) CHARISMA*

10 Late kick, yielding one point (6) BEHIND Anno pending [DD] See comments

12 Compare similar first names (5) LIKEN {LIKE}{N}

13 Persuade to banish war criminal (9) BRAINWASH*

14 Thickening of skin with regular decay of membrane (6) CORNEA {CORN}{dEcAy}

16 End of fine retreat (4,3) BACK OFF {BACK} {OF}{F}

19 Foretell public relations announcement (7) PREDICT {PR}{EDICT}

21 Alcohol-free study for writer (6) DRYDEN {DRY}{DEN}

23 Athletic scholar cracking word puzzle, lacking strategy at first (9) ACROBATIC {ACRO{BA}sTIC}

25 Mineral deposit outside Switzerland is yellowish-brown in colour (5) OCHRE {O{CH}RE}

26 Characteristic I had to drop for existence (6) ENTITY i'dENTITY

27 You and I, say, are for society to embrace new periodical column (8) PRONOUNS {PRO}{N}{cOlUmNs}{S}

28 Bullfighter initially trying on Mexican hat split in half (6) TORERO {T}{O}{sombRERO}

29 Curiously greet men coming into view (8) EMERGENT*

DOWN

1   Upset with the French tool (6) SICKLE {SICK}{LE}

2   Singularity, perhaps in sinister flaw (5,4) BLACK HOLE {BLACK} {HOLE}

3   An assembly of stars working outside Brazilian city (5) ORION {O{RIO}N}

4   Area Bishop — one in a medium sized country (7) NAMIBIA {A+B+1+IN+A+M}*

6   Public uproar at racy, nude, core fashion model (3,3,3) HUE AND CRY {RACY+NUDE+fasHion}*

7   Girl, one about to divide time (5) ERICA {ER{1}{C}A}

8   Shed rift about effect of increase in wavelength of light (8) REDSHIFT*

11 Needle the Spanish student to leave weightlifting equipment (4) BARB BARB(el)(l)

15 Bait line thrown right at a last minute finish (4-5) NAIL-BITER {NAIL-BITE}*{R}

17 Inn that never closes? (4,5) OPEN HOUSE [CD]

18  It is obvious that a guardian adopted Penny (8) APPARENT {A}{P{P}ARENT}

20 Carry a badge lacking finish (4) TOTE TOTEm

21 Protocol of Parisian firm is peculiar (7) DECORUM {DE}{CO}{RUM}

22 Do these wealthy people fix a plane? (3,3) JET SET {JET} {SET}

24 One going around in circles in hill coming back with gold (5) ROTOR {ROT<=}{OR}

25 Landlord not starting sedative (5) OWNER dOWNER

No.10984, Friday 17 Jan 2014, Klue Klux Klan

Nice one from KKK. For a while I thought it was an Army theme: Private, Lieutenant, Veterans, ...

ACROSS

1 Arrange solo matches with old chums (11) SCHOOLMATES (SOLO MATCHES)*

9 Classified chatter about Kiev regular (7) PRIVATE (PRATE about kIeV)

10 Empowering ringleader who leaves long-standing… (7) ENDUING (ENDUrING)

11 ...South Indian town he partly drove to (5) ERODE (hE RODE)

          Ranks at No.1 in the popularity rating

12 Repeat, leaving the sick unschooled (7) ITERATE (ill ITERATE)

15 Holistic detective, Gently, used dagger (4) DIRK (2) (Ref to Dirk Gently, detective)

          Or as they say in Hyderabad, "Hulloo hulloo"

16 Gamble on first lady’s endless knowledge of head of state (10) CHANCELLOR (CHANCE L LORe)

18 Europeans, provoked, grow insane (10) NORWEGIANS (GROW INSANE)*

20 Mixture of lemon in oil for starters? (4) OLIO (O L I O)

23 State authority initially backs force (7)  ASSERTS (A STRESS<)

24 Donkey in tunnel? Not quite (5) BURRO (BURROw)

26 Leave when Republican enters to cause delay (6) DETRAIN (R in DETAIN)

27 Stumble upon oil spill in Libya’s capital (7) TRIPOLI (TRIP on OIL*)

28 The caring, attacked with canes, rioted (11) CONSIDERATE (CANES RIOTED)*

DOWN

2 Without source of encouragement, makes boxes (6) CRATES (CReATES)

3 Warning for returning Verne character (4) OMEN (NEMO<)

          A rather fishy character

4 Deputy in place of boarder (10) LIEUTENANT (LIEU TENANT)

5 Representatives of senior people switched American head for English (8) ALDERMEN (ELDERMEN-E+A)

6 Of decrees found in Vedic talismans (7) EDICTAL (T)

7 Adding on to Andhra Pradesh is forthcoming (9) APPENDING (AP PENDING)

8 Hardship of first royal, initially lacking energy (6) RIGOUR (R vIGOUR)

13 Baptised saint, in enriched surroundings, confused (10) CHRISTENED (ST. in ENRICHED)*

14 Therefore, no microphone is for human good (9) ERGONOMIC (ERGO NO MIC.)

17 Doctor returns to trap old-timers (8) VETERANS (VET SNARE<)

          The U.S. has a lot of vets from V'et-nam

19 Knight comes back for perfume rice (7) RISOTTO (SIR< OTTO=attar)

21 Musical pieces’ first recital in African city (6) LARGOS (R in LAGOS)

22 Musician not half boisterous (6) OBOIST (O BOIST)

          Reminded me of GB Shaw. It seems he once received a letter starting with "My dear Shawm".  Exasperated, he commented to his wife that the chap could not even spell his name correctly. To  which, Mrs Shaw reportedly showed him the dictionary to validate the address. Shawm: an old fashioned woodwind instrument. Thus, justifying the use of the word to describe her husband.

25 Rodents looking up at the red dwarf, for one (4) STAR (RATS<)