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Maybe it's just the mood I'm in but I really enjoyed this. It's peppered with lots of humour and wit.

20a I'm shocked! I can't ever recall seeing the first 4 letters in a crossword before.

I don't know if this was intentional or not, but 4d could be rhyming slang for 8d and vice versa.

22a Our cousins across the pond will find this easy but it may prove tricky for some of us Brits - revenge for yesterday's Guardian Prize (6,3) perhaps!

1a brought to mind the "all change for Leeds" skit in either Not the Nine O' Clock News or Monty Python.

COD 8d - very witty and well constructed.

All in all a very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks setter.

Yes, easy one compared to yesterday’s torture. Since I am not used to the names in UK politics, it took a while to realise that 8d is an anagram.

Hi Mathi,

It's easy for 'natives' to overlook how difficult and tricky some clues can be to overseas solvers.

I think the surface reading of 8d is quite brilliant - it's one of the most well disguised anagrams I can ever remember seeing.

I realised that the Observer is a sister publication of the Guardian, only after doing 15d! Yes, there is always something new for me every week.

It’s as if 8d and 4d are giving a nod to yesterday’s 20a

Quite a few of the clues merit the 'genius' tag this week, I think. 3d, 4d and 6d are all beautifully constructed, but 8d is in a different league. How on earth did the setter first spot the anagram, then construct the clue so flawlessly? Utterly fantastic.

Yes, 20a made me laugh!
A fun start to the day :-)

Agree, very playful and witty today. But any help on parsing 15d much appreciated! We've come up with two possible solutions as we have all the acrosses but can't work out which is correct.

15d - the answer break down into 1 letter, 3 letters and 4 letters with an apostrophe in the middle of the latter.

Thanks simond9x - that confirms it