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I always assumed that setters try and create their own unique style, and Paul is no exception, but, if this week's Prize had not had his name written at the top, I would never have known it was his.

This isn't a criticism, just an observation and others may feel differently.

I think the difficulty level is hard to gauge, for me at least because, while many of the answers went in rather quickly, others took a lot longer and there are still a couple where the wordplay eludes me, even if the solutions don't - 11a and 14a are the ones where I can't quite see the parsing but no doubt some kind soul will help me out:-)

If you get stuck - it dawned on me that, now there is actually a prize to be won each week, people might not appreciate seeing the hints (assuming anyone ever reads my meanderings!) - let me know if you're for, against or indifferent.

Thanks to Paul for an entertaining puzzle.

Stay safe:-)

11a - I've just seen the wordplay for this - as per usual I was overcomplicating it:-)

14a: def is 1st word, the rest is fairly straightforward wordplay.

I can’t parse 19d though!

... and now I see how 14a works, very good:-)

COD - the amusing 24a 😂

Thanks Rogissimo,

19d - add part of a word in the clue to the front of your answer and you'll have a homophone of something "that would come back".

Rogissimo, for me it was the exact opposite - I saw the definition straight away but it was the wordplay that I couldn't see 🤔

Argh! Thanks brendan. I probably should have slept on it!

Thanks to Paul.
I enjoyed this puzzle, solid but not exceptional. Agree with Brendan that Paul's trademark (IMO) wit is not really evident. For fans of the Pauline, there is a SEX tucked away in row 15 🤣... About midrange in difficulty, maybe a tad on the easy side.

Most notable to me was a pangram fake-out of sorts. After filling in about 10 answers, a pangram seemed very likely. But NOOOOO (as used to be said on the Saturday Night Live TV show long ago.

FOI 21, LOI 7.
COD 5 narrowly over 7, 19d and 17. Also liked 24a, 1d, 29 and 16.

Hi Geeker,

Excellent spot on the bottom row 😂 (there's also a homophone in row 11)

I'm glad you gave a mention to 16d and 29a where I took a while to see the definition, even though there were only a handful of words that fitted my letter pattern!

PS Puzzled why the italics didn't work in your post - I'll test below:-

Italics

Sorry Geeker, the italics did work in your post and appear when reading it normally but, when you click on "reply to this post", you then see the word surrounded by which I'd never noticed before!