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Mrs T - the late Ms Styrene IS relevant.

Started late but almost finished now. Not sure I'm entirely happy with all the clues. Stuck on three, so may be back.....

That's exactly it Livs - a convoluted 'comp anag'. I'm not sure it works entirely for me since there's no anagram indicator for the last 3 words (or in the definition indicated by the underscoring). But perhaps I'm being too Ximenean.

By the way, 27a - is it 2 indirect anagrams or have I missed the point? I have it as two words meaning 'as a prospect' with a 3 letter word for compete mixed in with a 3 letter word for finish first. (Or as a 3 letter word for compete in 3 letters which when anagrammatised are a word meaning finish first.)

She's dead?! What a way to break it to me. Lol, thanks cmk.

Aargh... oops sorry Mrs T.

Yep, the anagram works.

I thought it was quite a sweet theme, even though as you say, barista, when I finally got 3D etc after getting several Down answers, it didn't seem to add anything at that point.

Never heard of a-per-a. Thanks.

27A: I have
letters 3-5 = compete
letters 1-2 = last 2 letters of 3 letter word for 'finish first'. In that word, the letters are cycling round so
letter 6 = first of that word.

Hope that makes sense.

With 27ac, if you take the last letter of the answer and place it at the front of the clue (the "cycling" reference), you get "compete and finish first". The definition is "as a prospect". Again, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think that's how it's parsed.

Looking at it again, I've explained it badly. How about:

'compete' then 'finish first' (3 letters each)

Letters are cycling round, so the 2 at the end go to the beginning:

ABCDEF

FABCDE

EFABCD

My brain hurts.

Thanks. I think I must therefore have the same answer as you both - although I still wonder if both words are 'cycling'.

Anyway - 28a - I mistyped - it's 'a-per-se' not 'a-per-a'!