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Prospero
Hmm. 12 is definitely thematic, and is comically associated with 22d. I find only 14 thematic clues.

12 is definitely thematic, unless I've gone very wrong somewhere!

Aha! I had believed that 21 had to be associated with (yet another) children's character - thanks bb - sorted now.

Only the two to go. Maybe only one if my 12a is correct, but I can't work out the clue to get my beast.

So stuck on 5d. Which is confused by my uncertainty about 12a.

Any nudges to either confirm my 12 or towards 5d?

pp - I had trouble with 5 too. It's a normal clue - def last word, first word gives you 4 letters, then one each from produce and over

as bb says above, 12 comes from same source as 22d (tho I don't remember the latter from my time, which was many decades ago ...)

Thanks all.

I abandoned my 10a as all my reasoning was too convoluted. This allowed me to work out 5d. Then 10 fell into place - a much darker character than my original try.

In case Karla (a John Le Carré fan?) looks in, that was a most enjoyable puzzle with some easy, some tricky and some funny clues. Well done.

Almost all done and parsed - though I needed help from the internet for some of the themed entries.

I'm only missing 16d, which I have noted down as themed. I have all the crossers, but have no idea where to start on the clue. Any hints?

Gweilo, you could try to drink a drink...