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Wow!! What a struggle.

This week's puzzle is by Vlad, who we don't seem to see too often, at least not for the Prize crosswords.

I started off pretty well but then got slowed down in the NE corner then came to a virtual standstill in the SW and SE.

FOI was 9a followed by the crossing 4d.

If you do get stuck there are two long anagrams in the acrosses and one in the downs.

There are still a few I can't fully parse, namely 20d, 15d, and 18d, so will hope to have a PDM.

COD - I was going to give it to 8a but decided that 11a had a smoother surface "Occasionally heard in museum gallery" (7) - although 13a also ran it close.

We had several new posters (at least I couldn't recall seeing them before) joining our friendly Prize blog last week, so welcome to Grum, Minno, Judygs, Davel, Janusz, Samuipete and Johnson 😀

And remember, if you get stuck, don't hesitate to ask for a hint.

Thanks to Vlad for a challenging but rewarding crossword.

Stay safe:-)

..... add 21a to the list of those I can't parse.

Okay, just figured out the wordplay to 15d 😜

... and just worked out wordplay for 20d 😜

That leaves 21a and 18d to parse - although I'm sure of my answers.

These are not easy!

20d: something that sets, with ‘one’ inside, preceding an abbreviation.
21a: a two-letter abbreviation for a set, reversed, makes up the first and last letters. I and 80% of a synonym for ‘make’ inside.
Still struggling to parse 18d.

25a has a great surface relating to a recent scandal, but if the definition is what I think it is, it strikes me as very loose/vague. My only criticism of a fine and challenging crossword (subject to getting a satisfactory explanation of 18d).

Thanks Rogissimo,

18d - I think is an anagram/"bang" of "to", "so" and 2 "rights" with single letter abbr. of "are".

25a - Has a very well hidden definition:-)

Is ‘a’ really an accepted abbreviation of ‘are’?? (Unless I’m misunderstanding your hint).
Re 25a: I didn’t know about this chap, but now I do. Very clever clue, but quite a stretch on the GK front, for me anyway. Thanks for spurring me on to delve further. I had been thinking that the definition was just a synonym for ‘position’ or ‘occupation’ which is why it seemed terribly loose!

Chambers gives "a" as an a abbr. of "are" as a metric measure.

I'd also never heard of 25a but I've just a bit about him and ....wow! He did a lot of things:-)

Thanks to Vlad for a real challenge. Many complex (to say the least) parsings and vocabulary-expanding solutions.
FOI 19, LOI 15 (Google required). COD 8 over 12, 17, 1a and 1d (considering relatively simple clues, not the mind-twisting ones!).
I only solved 25 (next to LOI) after reading Brendan's excellent hint here. :-)

Aha, now I get it! Not the verb, the measurement. Devious Vlad. Brilliant Vlad.