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A really nice crossword! I twigged to the theme after 13 and 17, and for once that was actually helpful in filling in the grid :)

I'm having a little trouble parsing/understanding two of the clues, 4d and 12a, where I'm fairly sure of my answers, but haven't completely solved them.

For 4, I've found the depressed area, but I have no clue how to get there from the wordplay. Brendan mentioned not knowing the tax, and I'll add my name to that list of people

For 12, the first four words straightforwardly give the wordplay for a complaint/trouble, but I don't see how "for corporation" comes into it, unless it's just to say for body in a sneaky way.

Enjoy your weekends, everybody!

Looks like they are afraid of 23d now! Lol.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/americans-say-they-wont-drink-corona-because-of-coronavirus-but-sales-are-up-5-51583610529

Corporation is slang for stomach/belly.

Hi Gweilo,

I'm afraid the theme went right over my head until Mike/Minty pointed it out.

4d The first 2 letters are the reversal/about of what one might say if "they don't know" something + 4 letter word for a "tax" (I'd never heard of it)

12a "Corporation" can mean 'tummy' or 'pot belly' and is a crossword setter's favourite.

Hi all. An excellent puzzle.
I really enjoyed this with one little niggle. By my reckoning there are only three true thematic answers. The others are all lagers. It really annoys me at Christmas when supermarkets offer huge packs of ‘beers’ for bargain prices and they are mainly continental lagers.
Having said that, I don’t want to spoil this party. This is a very personal grouch and at my age I am allowed to be grumpy.
Thanks Picaroon

That's hilarious Mathi, I wonder if the person doing the survey didn't have one glass too many:-)

Hi Geoff,

I can see that 5d, 8d and 24a are beers - are all the rest lagers?

I was confused by 4d too. I knew the tax, but thought "about" gave the first two letters, leaving "I don't know" unaccounted for!

Hi Chris,

The prevalence of that 2 letter interjection is one of my pet hates. The only time I've ever felt the urge to text in to a radio show was when a BBC financial correspondent was giving a report on Radio 5 and he um'd and er'd way through the entire piece, after virtually every word - and it's only getting worse:-(

Thanks brendan and mathi!

I've never come acros the tax, nor corporation=belly, so I've learned something today :-)