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Another excellent Everyman, though one I found quite a bit more challenging than usual.

FOI was 1a followed by 10a.

If you do get stuck there's a couple of long anagrams in the acrosses and a primarily in the downs.

The trademark Everyman rhyming pair made a welcome this week.

COD - I had circled 8a but then, after initially being flummoxed by it, I finally figured out the parsing for 26a, which is equally as good so I'll make a tie between those two.

Thanks to Everyman for a difficult but entertaining crossword.

Please feel free to leave a comment, it's always good to hear the views of others - and remember, you can always ask for a hint if you get stuck.

Stay safe:-)

Thanks to Everyman, tricky in places but many fine clues.
FOI 1a, LOI 8. Won't single out a COD but liked 14, 11, 15, 1d, 22, 9 and 25. Found 2 slightly dubious, though clever.
Suspected a pangram due to the presence of certain letters, but saw no "z" and discarded the idea.

Hi Geeker,

2d - I thought the same thing but checked in Chambers and the definition is exactly as the clue says.

I too found this challenging. FOI 1a, then the NE corner was fairly quick. I struggled with the SE and SW and last quadrant was the NE for me. LOI 2d, very elegant clue and was still a struggled even with all the crossers - not a word that springs to mind - normally just think of the noun equivalent.

26a is my COD - took me ages to get, but I love the band and the balance of the clue was fun. I also really liked 15a.

Hi Matador,

I saw the band in Hammersmith many years ago and they were great. As you say, not an easy clue to parse but really well constructed with a lovely bit of misdirection.

Yes, 26 is excellent and deserves COD. I was able to write in the answer from recording GK, so didn't appreciate the parsing at first.

I am surprised someone said it was a difficult puzzle. I got to the end without much head-banging, and usually on a Saturday night my Everyman solving often slows to a standstill, prompting me to decide to go to bed and revisit the puzzle in the morning.

Lots of good clues.
DC Covid death toll now about 1055, but only creeping up by one or two a day.

25a - Looking at this clue again, there's seems to be a couple of ways it can parse but both appear to require the final letter from "bold", which I don't get?

You can have a 2 letter "commercial" + 3 letters of a 4 letter/"almost" "exceedingly" then single letter "bold".

or

5 letters of a 6 letter "commercial almost" + single letter from "exceedingly bold".

Any ideas?

25a: I used the first version with the three letters for ‘almost exceedingly’. Otherwise I can’t explain the presence of ‘exceedingly’ correctly.

Brendan your first option is correct I think, and the single letter at the end is an abbreviation for bold.

Plain sailing for the most part today for me. Way easier than yesterday’s Prize which I still have not finished.

Lots of lovely clues including 22a which made me smile and 21a has a comedy element in the way the clue reads.

12a’s “ate up” a bit weak I thought. Since when has up been an anagram indicator?
14d I can’t see the definition but how to construct the answer seems clear.

Greetings to all