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7d - oh dear! That's bad.

7 was my LOI (well, 9 and 7 jointly fell at the same time) and one of my co-COD!

Thanks to Brockwell for a thoroughly enjoyable and top-class Prize. Definitely in the "difficult" category for me.

We can expect a fun "gimmick" from Brockwell, and this puzzle is (clearly) themed with an added thematic feature. I saw the theme relatively early and it was somewhat helpful in filling the grid.

A couple of unfamiliar words required Google. Certain of my answer to 18 but parsing not clear.

FOI was 2.

Many fine clues, no single COD. Top tier: 7, 28, 24, 20. Also deserving mention: 1, 3, 14 and 12. Reviewing the grid, others could be praised.

Geeker - how can 7 be good? It's wrong.

How I failed to see the theme I just don’t know. Right up my street, so clearly signalled, and yet…
FOI 2. LOI 16 because I lacked the knowledge.
A hugely enjoyable challenge, with many competitors for COD, including 18 and 28.
But biggus is right: 7 is just plain wrong, I’m afraid.

7 parses fine to me: 4 (homophone) inside 2 (or 1,1). The definition (last word in clue) is definitely acceptable IMO. One might quibble with the word "and", but I am extremely permissive about wordplay.

Ooh - hang on. I get it now. Apologies.

Oops. Apologies from me too.

I had to consult Google for 16, but it is clever. I lacked the GK for 18 as well.
Hats off to 14: "regularly lit up" is brilliant! Brockwell in "a rich vein of form" as UK sport commentators seem to say. 🤣

Good puzzle.

His themes are beyond me.
5d/9a not sure of entries/parsing.

Liked - crude, party animal, sweet stuff, sliders, messenger, sex maniac

Corrected my 9a.