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Today's puzzle is a fruit themed affair from Paul that is guaranteed to get the gastric juices flowing - (I wonder if completing it counts as one of my 5-a-day 😜)

FOI was 7a followed by the crossing 1d.

In terms of difficulty I'd say this is one of Paul's 'solver-friendly' puzzles but, as always, these things are very subjective.

If you do get stuck there's an initial letters in the downs and a hidden in the acrosses.

I still haven't fully parsed 9a but I'm confident of my answer so hopefully the penny will drop before too long.

I didn't notice any Pauline type clues but then I wouldn't - I always miss them 😢

COD - There were a few contenders this week with the yummy sounding 25a and the short but sweet 23d - but I've gone for 16d - "Staff pressing fruit for Bacchus, say" (4,3) Excellent:-)

As always, please feel free to leave a comment letting us know how you got on and remember - if you get stuck you can always ask for a hint:-)

Thanks to Paul for another fun crossword.

Stay safe:-)

9a is a well-known type of orange-fleshed melon (a hybrid apparently, which I didn’t know) with one of the two letters frequently cryptically referred to as ‘one’ removed. Defn is party.

Hi Rogissimo,

Thanks, I've just got it - although it's only in Chambers when followed by the word "melon", so when I was adding "one" to the answer nothing showed up.

Hi Brendan,
Thanks to Paul. I'm a long-time fan, but today's puzzle had a strange feel to it, and I agree it's on the "solver-friendly" side. No "Pauline" clues that I could see, and perhaps also lacking in convoluted wordplay (he usually has one or two super thorny clues). Several short (esp. 4-letter) entries seemed a bit easy, even trite. Fun to solve and many clues I rate highly, but overall not as witty or humorous as Paul's best.
Got off to a slow start, FOI 15. For a long time I had only 4-letter answers in the grid and feared defeat, but then caught on. LOI 3; the answer was clear but parsing was tricky. No standout COD; 11, 21a, 16d, 8, 10 and 20d brought smiles but I can't single one out.

9a: the thematic element (an "i" inserted into the obvious solution) is not well-known; I had to consult Google.

Hi Geeker,

I think 15a is a good one to start off with - there aren't too many words that can mean "slippery gunk".

I wonder if having to follow a theme proved somewhat limiting to Paul as much of his usual humour, nudge nudge and 😉😉 clues were sadly absent:-(

9a - I did exactly the same - put the answer with an "i" inserted into Google and there it was although, as per usual, I'd never heard of it - thankfully the "party" is more well known:-)

Fortunately, the obscure fruit in 9a is listed in the Chambers Thesaurus.

Wow every clue contains a theme word with the exception of 20d. I have never come across such a comprehensively themed crossword! Quite a feat, but maybe the overall quality of the puzzle was compromised as a result.

I managed to complete it with the help of my trusty thesaurus, hints from this forum and the crossword solver. I love a thesaurus list! Fruits and presidents this time.

I enjoyed the synonym for orange in 7a.
20a is just a lovely word which is not often heard on this (Western) side of the Atlantic.

Tomorrow is yard sale day in our locale, when our usually sleepy neighbourhood becomes a honeypot for a swarm of early-rising enthusiastic bargain-hunters. Great opportunity to get rid of some surplus possessions.

Have a great weekend everyone

Hi FemmeNoire,

20d - I always thought nuts are a fruit - but I'm probably wrong.

7a - Is not a word you hear every day but, strangely, was my FOI - it's a 20a of a word 😉

The yard sale sounds like it should be a lot of fun, you never know what treasures you might find:-)

See you on the Everyman blog:-)

femmenoire,
"Wow every clue contains a theme word with the [possible] exception of 20d. I have never come across such a comprehensively themed crossword! Quite a feat, but maybe the overall quality of the puzzle was compromised as a result."
Excellent points!

Nuts a type of fruit? Well I suppose they are botanically speaking the fruiting body of a nut tree. Fruit and nut in the same sentence makes Cadbury’s spring to mind. Yum!