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Thanks to Paul, who's back in his customary Prize slot. I thought there were many fine clues, but the theme is something I'm not terribly fond of or knowledgeable about, which somewhat curbed my enthusiasm.

Started slowly until figuring out the theme, had to Google to confirm a few guesses for thematic entries. Those to whom the theme is familiar may find this one easy!

First One In 8, Last OI 18. Co-Clues of Day 9 and 5. I also enjoyed 12, 16, 11, 3, 13A, 14, 15 and 19D (in the order solved) which indicates the general quality of the wordplay.

Hi Geeker,

I had a similar experience, but luckily I'm quite familiar with the theme and, for those that aren't, there's always Google.

I think it's safe to say that if you don't have the theme, the crossword will seem pretty impenetrable but, once you get it, everything should fall nicely in to place.

My FOI was 22a and that was followed by 22d, 20a.

The first themed clue I solved was 10a but unfortunately I only got it from the definition and crossers, so it wasn't much help, and it wasn't until I'd solved a couple more that the penny finally dropped.

If you do get stuck you might try 21a, 22a and 25d, which should give you a toe-hold.

Thanks to Paul for a challenging and fun puzzle.

Stay safe:-)

I do have those 3 plus 6d, and that's all so far. Maybe the Number theme refers to songs? Really tough to get into... . Hope it's not British sports players' numbers, though Geeker might be familiar with those. A little clue towards identifying the theme would be nice.

Hi Ethereal,

Your guess in the second sentence is correct. It's like I said though, until you get that PDM about the specifics of the theme, it will seem fairly impenetrable but, once you do, they all fall nicely in to place.

I've just realised I haven't fully parsed 19d - the answer is obvious from the crossers but the wordplay eludes me:-(

Finally worked out the wordplay for 19d :-)

I should add that, as familiar as I am with the theme, I don't think I would have got them all without resorting to Google.

I'm pretty sure I once encountered a cryptic crossword with exactly the same theme. Can't recall when or in what paper, though.

Sorry for spamming, a couple of other comments:
1) It's the G-rated Paul today, no naughty clues. :(
2) Non-fans of Paul may find some things to criticize...highly convoluted wordplay is sometimes cited, and there's at least one candidate in this puzzle.

I had to choose, once I'd got the theme by guessing and googling from 10ac, to look at the lists and fill in the answers, or to scratch my head trying to figure out things I had no knowledge of. Before I could decide to try to use my solving skills the grid was almost all filled in. So quite unsatisfying for me.

I should say that I liked a lot of the unthemed clues: 18d, 19d, 11ac, 26ac and more. I'm not sure why 16d refers to Houses rather than Housed. Any explanation?