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I can honestly say this is one of the best Everyman crosswords I've ever done - it is an absolute delight.

It's filled with wit, humour and some ingenious cluing.

My FOI was 6a , then 10a and they were followed by the quite brilliant 8d - it's only six words but each one is pivotal to the answer and has as good as a surface as your likely to see.

I didn't find it too difficult, although I'm still a tad puzzled by 1d. However, if you do get stuck there are two very long anagrams in the downs and one in the acrosses, there's also a fairly easy hidden in the acrosses.

Side note - By weird coincidence, last night I was just watching the TV series Hannibal and in the episode he serves a drink which was created by Auguste Escoffier - as was 13d 😉

There's also another drink at 12a which I've never heard of but the wordplay is clear.
COD - There are so many candidates, 9a is a great charade type clue, made up of four separate parts, 11d hangs together beautifully. Then there's the aforementioned 8d and the witty and clever 24a and 26a. But I'm going with succinct 21d - Loudly scare off an animal: a mule, perhaps (4) - Just brilliant:-)

It's been great to see so many new posters joining our friendly Everyman discussion thread. Remember, if you get stuck you only have to ask and there's always someone willing to help.

Thanks to Everyman for a fantastic puzzle.

Stay safe:-)

Ah! Just figure out 1d - excellent:-)

Yes, 1d also means simple fools or dullards. I remembered 13d because it was the paint colour we used for our interior. I liked 24a too.

Hi Mathi,

You're right, I was trying to overcomplicate 1d - Occam's Razor!

24a is great and made me think of "ManBearPig" - love it 🤪

What a great puzzle! It fell right into my "Goldilocks Zone" which was a relief after my epic struggle I had with yesterday's Prize. 1a was my FOI (I tend to work from first across clue to last down clue on my first attempt) and brought a smile - as did 9a. 24a produced a (friendly) groan but I think 8d was my favourite. My only slight quibble was with the "tense" (so to speak) of 14d but I really enjoyed the challenge today - keep them coming Everyman.

HI Charley,

Yeah, I think most people will be very pleased with week's crossword - some great clues.

I'm not sure what you mean by "tense" in 14d, I read it as a straight anagram with "touring" as the indicator.

Hi Brendan. I was trying to be cryptic about 14d so I didn't give anything away - obviously failed miserably. My use of "tense" was supposed to get round saying that the clue seemed to indicate something in the present but refers to something in the past. But on reflection, I was being far too picky when it was such a great puzzle and the solution was easily arrived at.

Ahh! Sorry Charley, I see what you mean - it 'was' a country but it's been "reconstituted", as Wiki puts it.

Fairly straightforward but fun. Never heard of 6A, will have to brush up on my Anglo-Saxon!

Hi Brendan. Yes, that was what I was trying to say. Well put :-) But it was a great puzzle and really fun to solve.