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Well, I don’t know about you, but I found this a much harder nut to crack than recent Prize offerings, and all the more enjoyable for that.
FOI 21, LOI 22a, which was one of too many potential CsOD to list. But I particularly enjoyed an early entry at 19.
Many, many thanks to Brockwell, whose name I now see with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.

Thanks to Brockwell. I'm becoming a big fan.

Found this very slow going at first, sped through the second half once I got on the wavelength, but solving time definitely over Prize norm. Time put to good use, as the puzzle was delightful with so many excellent clues.

FOI 7, LOI 23.

No single COD. Maybe I liked 9, 7 and 11 the best, but 8, 14, 18, 25, 14, 22a and 13 also appear in my notes. And others could be added.

Now to decipher a theme...(12, 16 and 1) give a hint...not certain but I'm thinking 16 is key.

Yes, there's a distinct Brockwellian theme!

I think you may be right about the theme, geeker. There are some solutions that seem to allude to it, occasionally requiring the removal of one letter, or in one case using the noun from which the adjective is derived.
The second part of 25 seems particularly apt in the circumstances!

Might be fun to enumerate the thematics. Google probably required to get them all.

I was sort of the opposite to you, geeker. Started out fairly steady, but the SE section stumped me for a while. Definite theme, as always with Brockwell, and also as always, great clueing. COD 27 for topicality.

You gentlemen didn’t mention the Pauline 17.

Yes, 17 was funny! Ironically it took me a long time, as I was exploring non-Pauline routes and wound up surprised by the answer.

Just completed. Found this very difficult. Thanks Brockwell.

I let my cat jump the other way at 8a, and wasted an hour +, not being able to get 5d 6d etc

19d, 11d, 16/20 combo, 4d, 13a and 22a, that being my top fav.

Yep, seeing the theme, applied in different ways.

Same, geeker.