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Hi Gabriel,

8a - think of a famous country and western singer of that name:-)

Thanks, Mattrom, for parsing 23a. Though this clothes brand store is supposed to be popular internationally, including in India, I never heard of it!

Happy new year all. I found this to be at the trickier end of the Everyman spectrum but nevertheless highly enjoyable. I also tried to find an N for 24ac and was struggling with 23ac until I read this thread.

Loved 4d, a great leap of the imagination from clue to answer.

And mmmm indeed which makes a change from rhyming pairs (or quadruples per last week).

I found this very satisfying, lots of thoughts of "Oh, I see, that's clever."
Last one in was 16a, got hung up in it ending in 'ing' and was trying to think of bizarre initiation rituals.
I know the clothing chain only too well, having teenage daughters!

yes, a good one. i was thrown by the & in 14a, though - tried to get an extra a in

Yep, count me among the 'better than usual' voters. But please tell me that 13d doesn't involve a homophone. Sounds nothing like it in my neck of the woods. Maybe I've misinterpreted it?

Very enjoyable.

I'm more Hmmmm than Mmmmm. I don't think 14A would appreciate being called Arabic if he were alive today (any more than an ex-Emperor of Japan would wish to be termed Chinese). 'Hidden' in 19A isn't quite right. And while some of those descendAnts have clearly abandoned dictionaries, crossword setters should still know how to use them! On the other hand, 24A is a wee gem, especially given the 'letter of the week'.

Simon -- I thought that the homophone in 13D was one of Everyman's better efforts. For once no lisping is required,

I enjoyed that and finished quite quickly for me. Final one in was 24a which was also then my COD. Took a minute to work out what the November ref was then had to laugh. I knew 18d was not ‘slip’ but couldn’t get that out of my head until I finally got another slip synonym.

I really enjoyed this one, too, especially after yesterday's Guardian, which for me was like having teeth pulled and was only finished this morning. And thinking of this morning, I'm always astounded by Brendan polishing these things off just after midnight.

COD for me is the simple 24a, which had me wrongfooted for a while.

Happy New Year to all.