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Finished this much earlier than usual as I did it online, rather than waiting until I buy the paper. And a first for me for while, finishing the whole thing without checking in on the forum for any hints.

The only hint I'd pass on, is don't get hung up like me thinking 2d is a fairly straightforward anagram. That misdirection had me stuck in the NE corner for some time.

FOI: 11a it just leapt out at me
LOI: 14a actually I'm not even sure I have it right
COD: 18a made me smile, but 19d seems most apt this week

I meant NW corner of course, and while there beware another misdirection in Id - it's not one of Woods'.

And I also enjoyed of my favourite children's books characters grom the same era - my primary schools days - appearing in 15d.

Hi Anyotherbizniz,

15d - the "dump character" was one I was unfamiliar with, at least in the context of the theme (I knew the name from TG) but, thankfully, the definition became pretty clear once I had the crossers.

Imogen is Vulcan’s alter ego, who we normally see in the Monday slot, and I see from the app that Imogen last set the prize back in in 2017 and several times before that.

The theme was clear from a quick read through of the clues (very much my era!) and as a result the thematic solutions, including the hidden one, were pretty much write-ins. I feel for overseas solvers or millennials for whom this may all be a mystery.

I also came to a standstill in the SW corner at the end. It didn’t help that had the first word of 13d wrong, which is not something I knew and seems to be a historical term, not in Chamber or Collins, but it is in the OED.

I found it fun, not sure everyone will ;-)

The reason Vulcan uses the pseudonym Imogen is contained here…
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2020/dec/07/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-vulcan

Hi Jono,

I took about 20 minutes to figure out what was going on in 13d, not helped by convincing myself that "lawyer" was 2 letters.

Not sure about this. After Vlad's excellent effort last week this is a bit hit and miss. Possibly it's because I'm about half way through and already 4a and 21a are words I didn't know. Which could just be down to you poor vocabulary.

I think I have 10a but can't parse it. The second word of 23a I think is obvious but can't think of a word to go before it. All in all abit messy just now.

No problem with the theme but would have struggled if I didn't know it with those clues

My poor vocabulary obviously

Thanks for the link Jono, it's interesting to see how the setters choose their pseudonyms.

Hi Rocky,
For 23a you need to partner the second word with the first letter of the first word. The two remaining letters refer to ‘working’