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A pretty brilliant puzzle from Enigmatist. Tough but fair and many great clues. The only issue I have really is the number I have still to parse. Too many to list all here but main ones are 2d. I get m's predecessor but what's the rest all about and where's the definition?

18d no idea but must be right.

COD 10a, 5d and 22a.

2d parses 1,4. Film knowledge required.

18d parses 4 then 2,1 reversed.

I know this is off-topic for this discussion, but can anyone put me out of my misery by explaining 12a in last week's Guardian prize puzzle, the one with a blank space as a clue? The answer is obvious, but even after a whole week of puzzling over it 🤔 I have no idea whatsoever how it comes from the clue, and I can't rest until I know. 🫤

Excellent one, thanks to Enigmatist! Several where I knew what it had to be but only after a while could I figure out the parsing, which is very satisfying. CsOD 6a, 9d, 24ac, 27ac, and 10ac.

I was flummoxed by 16d, both halves being unfamiliar. For American solvers I suggest trying the following (to avoid spoilers I have rotated it 13 letters, paste it into rot 13 dot com to see the clue):

Znetrel, n cbbe guvat gung nva'g jung fur hfrq gb or (4, 4) [Vg jvyy abg tvir cerpvfryl gur fnzr nafjre ohg vg jvyy svg]

I was going to say that I hadn't parsed 21ac but I just figured it out. Still not totally sure about 14ac, is there a 2, 2 involved? I typed in the correct answer at one point, hit the check button, and was stunned to see it disappear completely. Then after getting some crossers I realized that it's Saturday and there is no check button, I had hit "clear."

Look here. micky - some discussion!

https://fifteensquared.net/2026/09/05/guardian-prize-30098-imogen/#comment-753376

Very useful site, if you don't already know it.

As it doesn't seem to have. come up in the discussion, I assume 9D is obvious to others but I'm really befogged. I parse it as 2,5,1,5,1 and it's the first 2 that has got me. Any hints?

Alternative spelling for a 3 letter word (in Chambers)

Thank you, Chrise. No, I didn't know that site, but I'll bookmark it now. I can now relax. However, now that I understand the clue I really don't like it at all.

Thank you, simond9x. I have learned something. An NHO for me but now HO.