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Hi Will4jan
The "Pauline" reference would be obscure if you don't do Guardian puzzles. He is a regular setter, notorious for slightly smutty clues. Yesterday's Prize was one of his, though not high on the smuttiness level.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/28380

I’ve been doing the Prize and Everyman crosswords regularly for some time now and always find the Sunday puzzle far more straightforward (although that’s not to say that I can always complete it without looking at the forum for hints / explanations of parsing!). The nature of the Prize puzzle varies considerably from week to week depending on the setter - as you would expect of course - and I think this adds significantly to the challenge. Also, the Prize generally just seems to require a lot more mental dexterity. Do others agree?

Hello all.

My first post from sunny Melbourne on our first day of autumn with a balmy 21 degrees.

I don't understand why mathematician in 4D is in italics. I know it's the definition, but the definition isn't usually italicised.

A minor quibble ... I don't think the answer to 25A is the same as a cocktail.

Thanks, Chrise, for your explanation about Pauline.

Hi Deemonee, greetings from Sydney.
Re 4d, I think it's because the answer is a proper noun. He's used the same thing in 10a.
In 25a, the def. is 'take a gander' so it's a homophone of '(h)ighball', how a cocktail would be pronounced in the East End. Possibly missing a homophone indicator, though that could be implied by 'in East End'

...or did you mean that a highball is not the same as a cocktail? Our resident cocktail afficionado, Jono, may agree with you.

That is what I meant Mattrom.

Apologies for waffling on, Deemonee - I didn't realise initially that you were referring to part of the definition, not the answer.

err...I meant part of the word play and not the answer.

Haha Mattrom ;-) yes I do agree with Deemonee, any mixologist will tell you highballs are not cocktails. However, in Everyman’s defence the definition of cocktail in Chambers is rather generic... “a mixed drink containing spirits” ... so perhaps we should allow it ;-)