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Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best crossword we have seen from this setter.

There are anagrams, long, partial and those that make up only part of a clue. In fact, many of the setter's conventions are mixed and matched within the same clue. There are also hiddens, forward and reversed, homophones (these will make you smile) and initial letters, but, as I said, many of these appear in the same clue.

As for cultural references, there's a US poet, a French painter, a UK pop star, a German author, a English politician and a British author, that's not to mention the reference to what a prince was, or should I say "where a prince was", in the news recently.

5a was a new word to me, but the cluing is clear so it shouldn't cause too many problems.

21a is a very well hidden definition.

There might be a couple of clues that cause some head scratching and, as of writing this, there's still 20d and 22d that I haven't fully parsed - though the answers are clear from the definitions and crossers.

COD There are several really good clues, 7d, 1d and 21a but I'll go for 17d.

I hope everyone is well and I know these are difficult times, but puzzles like this will help us make the most of our isolation.

Thank you Everyman.

.....and as is nearly always the way, I see both parsings within seconds of posting:-)

19d was quite difficult for me. Only after your hint, and a bit of Googling the recent UK news, I was able to get the name of that place. I was stuck near the SW corner of the puzzle because I was unaware of this weird local news. The rest of puzzle was ok, though there were too many proper names today.

Hi Mathi,

It's funny you should say that as, once I figured out the parsing, my first thought was - "how are overseas solvers ever going to get this"! I'm both amazed and impressed in equal measure that you were able to source it on Google.

I agree the SW corner is very tricky.

Sorry I think I meant SE corner near 19d. 22d was ok. 20d still baffles me, though it is easy to get the names of the popular pilots. I could guess it only from the crossers and the clue ‘River Island’s taken’.

Snap, I don't know why I put SW, I meant the SE corner where two difficult clues 22a and 25a intersect with two more difficult ones 19d and 20d - I foresee some head scratching:-)

@20d It's the usual 1 letter abbr. for 'river' inside a 4 letter island.

@20 Woops!....I meant inside 5 letter island

Oh, I get 20d now. Looked up Google. Didn’t know this island! Thanks.

completely stumped by 19d
any hints please