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It was always going to be a difficult job following last week's behemoth but Brendan did a stellar job with this appropriately themed puzzle.

FOI were the 6a/3d crossers which I recommend as a good starting point.

In terms of difficulty, I'd say it is very tricky in parts but there are also a few gimmes to balance things out.

If you do get stuck, there are at least two long anagrams in the acrosses.

I'm not sure what the "six" refers to in 15d (assuming I've got the correct "rules") and in 16d I did initially wonder why "point" was there but, upon re-reading, it makes perfect sense. Also, I think Brienne of Tarth might have something to say about 19d 😉😜

I haven't fully parse 14d and 2d but I am sure of my answers.

Thanks to Brendan for an entertaining puzzle.

As ever, please feel free to leave a hint and ask for or answer a hint, as required.

Stay safe:-)

Hi Brendan
14d - the cryptic part of the clue divides as 3-1,2 (or 1.1),2
2d - cryptic part divides as 2,4 (the latter reversed).
As to 15d, the 6 refers to a number of thematic rules. For my part, I’m not sure what the 11 signifies and therefore can’t fully parse the cryptic part.

Hi Rogissimo,

Thanks for those parses.

15d - "11" refers to the forename of a now deceased but still very famous former sportsman with this surname

I still haven't parsed 5d - any ideas?

Hi Brendan,
Thanks to your namesake for a fun challenge.
I found this quite difficult and struggled with several of the cryptic definition clues. And I'm not familiar with some historical aspects of the theme (rather evident theme this week, btw).
FOI 6, LOI 5d (Google required to confirm; see historical remark above).

COD definitely 1.
Still pondering a few parsings.

Crossword coincidence department: as sometimes happens, I wonder whether the setter reads this forum. Recent Clueless 573 and Peer Review 537 threads, for instance. 😊

I parsed 5 as 3 ("a good way"), 1, 2.

5d, that is. One of my typical typos.

5d -cryptic part parses as 3 (ignore the ‘in’), 1,2.
I’m clearly being dense about the 11 in 15dn as I still don’t get it, but thanks for trying! I’ll sleep on it.

Aha - I’d stupidly got 11 wrong!

Thanks Geeker, I had the same parsing but I'd never heard of this nickname so wondered if I'd got it wrong but, as you say, Google confirmed it and it does now ring a bell, albeit distant.

COD - I had so many this week that I had to write them on a separate sheet of paper and so forgot to include them!

I liked 7d (naturally) and like the surface story of 16d, same with 24a but, my favourite is the outstanding 5a "Intense expression of outrage by people missing the answer" (6) - could describe every solver 😂

Hi Rogissimo, I wondered if you had - did you initially use the letters 1.2.3 and 5?