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Good day to all of you. Thank goodness for the cheese! FOI. Could not get going at all until 17a and then bottom half fell into place mostly. LOI 25. I'll go with that for COD so agree with you. I like the layout. As someone wrote i think the last week the four letter words are often the trickiest. Lots of anagrams and the long down rhyming pair helped. Chilly Sunday. I note some US friends having to get to grips with UK subtleties. I think 'we' have to find some US answers occasionally. Makes it all so interesting.

Morning all,
@femmenoire, yes I agree about the grid, it’s well connected, unlike some grids where there’s more sense of separation of into two halves or four quarters which can result in getting stuck in a corner. Also with the outside lights on the edges, as opposed to set in, it’s a little more solver-friendly.
I was amused to see another portmanteau “cross” having had that rather obscure one yesterday. Lots of anagrams, but some interesting words.
One niggle was ‘might make you’ as an indicator in 1a... perhaps it’s just me.
Take care, looks we might have some snow today here!

Straightforward, though I think 4d needs some indication of abbreviation. I don't see a problem with 19d - one of my favourites, in fact. 16a was another nice one.

I usually start with edges, and wondered if Everyman had made a continental-sized mistake with 1d!

Interesting to see that most people found this quite easy, because it took me an age to get going. Couldn't see 4D till I got the final crosser and still don't like it as a clue (if anything, shouldn't 'German' = D?) Then whizzed through until SE corner stopped me in my tracks. After lots of head-scratching, the penny finally dropped with 19D and 26A, but again they're not great clues. I reckon 'info' should be 'code' in the first, and 'liver' is just plain wrong in the second. For those who are mystified, try replacing it with 'thyroid'!

Hi Phil, I had similar thoughts about liver, but it seems it can be described as this as well as being an organ. I’m not fond of “somewhere in the...” type geography clues. It’s a bit like last week’s “in the northeast” for Tyneside.
The letter for German is given in Chambers with a rather interesting origin relating to chemical weapons!

Hi Chrise, my FOI was 1d - a continental mistake. Held up NW corner. Serves me right for writing in before I had the crossers.

What purpose do the 1st two words in clue for 7d serve? I can't see parsing for 10a. Appreciate some help.

Try looking at reversing the answer to 10a

My FOI was unusually 1a

I groaned at 12a and 16a

26a I googled liver and the last 5 letters of the answer and it seems correct to me. But not sure where the 5th letter comes from

19a can't parse the 1st two letters?

Any insight would be appreciated

26 1st and 5th letters are given in the same way
19a VegetatE

fop I agree about the first two words in 7d