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Thanks to Paul for an extremely tough (IMO) thematic puzzle. I had a lot of difficulty, even though my FOI (omitted to avoid spoilers) was thematic! There's one devilish misdirection (omitted for same reason). The theme may have many consulting Google. LOI 15, short word but unfamiliar usage. COD 21 over 6 and 14, though 1a has a really nice surface.
I don't want to comment much until questions start coming in, as there's a big risk of spoilers.

Checking parsing, I compliment Paul on some excellent clues, adding 11, 22, 24 and 26 to COD candidates.
Still unsure of parsing of 25.
On the minus side of the ledger, Paul is sometimes panned for over-elaborate syntax, and a clue or two today may qualify, though I didn't have any issues.
No visible trademark naughty clues.

Hi Geeker,

As is par for the course, I completely missed the special instruction notice! Hence I'm only now starting to figure out what is going on.

25a - I think it's A(n) A (a themed word that A is an abbr. for) minus its last letter and anagrammed/"sozzled" - giving another themed word - I think!

This week's puzzle is by Paul and is not for the faint of heart 🥵

NB. There is a Special Instruction which, naturally, I missed. It wasn't until I'd been staring at the same set of clues for the best part of an hour that I noticed it.

I also found this extremely difficult - perhaps one of the hardest we've ever seen - certainly in recent times.

If you do get stuck there is a long anagram and a hidden in the acrosses and a hidden in the downs.

FOI was 16a followed 14d.

COD - Several contenders this week but I've gone for the wonderfully elegant 19d, "Where leg is on insect" (7)

The only query I have in regards parsing is the synonym for "familiar" in 23a, but I'm sure Paul would have checked this so I'll scour Chambers and see what I find.

Thanks to Paul for a very challenging but ultimately rewarding crossword.

We had more new posters join our friendly blog last week, so welcome to VinnyGrey and CrypticSilver ....

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

Stay safe:-)

Deleted by Admin on request of Brendan

[Spoiler alert] The nine thematic clues have a rather obvious feature in common...but a total of ten clues have that feature. So one of them is the "devilish misdirection" referred to above. :-)

Hi Geeker,

I see the one you mean and it held me up for a while. Luckily I had all the crossers and so was quickly able to spot a word that fitted the definition.

Brendan, that exceptional one out of ten was a rather good clue, too. It deserved COD status, especially considering the deception, but I held off because I didn't want to reveal the clue number (spoiler)!

The parsing of the themed words is so precise but, like you, I was reluctant to include any in COD for fear of spoilers.

PS. I've emailed Norah and asked her to remove one of my posts 😕

Thanks, Brendan, I finally parsed 25. Solution was clear (there's even a chess connection of sorts), but it took this long to decipher. 😳