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Reluctantly kicking off the thread before bedtime (US East Coast).
Greetings in advance to Brendan and others.
Thanks to Paul, who returns to the Prize slot for the first time in four weeks. I enjoyed the puzzle, found it above the norm in difficulty and solving time but not super-challenging. Doubt it will provoke as much discussion as last week's Bank Holiday edition!
FOI 2. LOI 11 after a correction, aided by the fact that I've seen the solution in a fairly recent crossword (forget the source). 24 was nearly LOI, took a long time to decipher. Google needed to confirm 22. Two or three clues may be head-scratchers to non-UK solvers.
Many praiseworthy clues, rather than single out a COD will give "medal" co-winners. Gold: 17, 21, 24. Silver: 15, 1a, 1d, 23. Bronze: 3, 7, 12.
I can see a vague theme, not fully convinced.
Slightly disappointed by lack of extreme "OMG!" Pauline entries. :-)

Hi geeker,
This was a steady solve although I am still unhappy with parsing 11a. There was a poet I did not know but the anagram is sound. I thought 27a could have had an American usage indicator. One trade name and yet another of those Scottish islands, although I did know it.
I did enjoy it and, like you, kept looking for the Pauline bit. But not as hard as some he has done, which made me like it more.
Still locked down here but not as much as a week ago.

Very difficult for me as Paul usually is. FOI was 9 and LOI was 24 because I had a typo in a crosser. Several puns, which took me awhile. That’s why 8 is my COD. Once I saw it it was well duh. I still haven’t parsed 18. My google maps referred to 22 as a “snug island with scenic beaches and cafes.” 😊

I can’t parse 11a correctly too. 18d is anagram of start, round hems in ThosE.

Hi mpfs,
18d is an anagram of the first word with ”hems” of those.
I think 9a was my FOI too.

Mathi - we crossed.

11- a mild swear word in English is involved

I parsed 11 as 2 inside 4. Took me a while to realize that the outer 4 is a synonym of a word in the clue, taken in the sense of (the theme of Paul's Prize 28,452). Don't have Chambers, but my NSOED seems to confirm this.

11a: Thanks. That fits the fruit starting with d.

All done but parsing of 23d .Any hints welcome