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Thanks to Paul for an enjoyable Prize. It's clearly heavily themed, which can be intimidating, but I fortunately managed to get the theme fairly quickly (relevant clue omitted to avoid spoilers). Because of the many thematic entries, solving time and effort will likely depend on grasping the theme. 13 was COD by a wide margin, really fine. FOI 8; LOI (19,25) which I managed to derive from wordplay but had to verify with Google. Don't see any clearly "Pauline" aspects, but a fun solve despite the presence (IMO) of a few hoary and possibly overused crossword standards,

Hi Geeker,

I think I had a similar experience to you, in that my solving speed increased dramatically once I'd twigged the theme.

FOI - 3d followed by 4d

I think the difficulty level very much depends on how quickly you spot the theme.

If you do get stuck there is a hidden and an anagram in the acrosses and a hidden and an anagram in the downs.

There are still two clues I can't fully parse, namely 18a and your COD 13a, although I'm pretty sure of my answers.

COD - I've gone for the short and sweet 15a - simply for the image it provokes:-)

Thanks to Paul for a challenging and fun crossword.

As always, please feel free to leave a comment giving us your thoughts on the puzzle and, if you get stuck, don't hesitate to ask for a hint.

Stay safe:-)

Brendan,
I haven't fully parsed 18 either (first 3 letters unclear), though the answer seems pretty certain. 13 has a bit of misdirection; definition is "store" (n), parses as a 4-letter syn for "food" inside a 4-letter construct that depends on rather obscure (I only learnt it from crosswords) GK.

I have the theme but haven't solved it! The second word is clear but the first eludes me

Got it, I was trying to add one of the usual single letters for "king" which held me up. Thanks Geeker.

Hi Masterfull,

Which clue are you referring to?

masterffull, are you referring to (20d, 23)? I should have given that one more consideration for COD, it's clever! I'm trying to think of a hint that wouldn't stray into spoiler territory. :)

The first 3 letters of 18A are a cricket term.

Many thanks Akg,

I completely overlooked the cricketing "on" - it's not like I haven't seen it a million times before🥵

Thanks on 18, akg. I wouldn't have seen that, will excuse it by an American ignorance of cricket.

I have no such excuse Geeker 😢