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noweyedeer, your letters are correct.

roof, your N is wrong in 19d. Defn. "neckwear", 3-letter word for "finish" inside a 5-letter word for "undergarments"
9a is complicated. Outside is a 3-letter word for "bed". Inside is a 2-letter abbrev. for a certain "Brendan" and a 4-letter word for "is prone". Defn. "incurring maximum damage" (slang)

geeker, thank you, i failed to parse the "brendan" in 9a

Got 23d now - actually cheered out loud 😂. Really enjoyed that puzzle and as ever the help on here was invaluable, thanks to all! Think my LOI (23d) was actually my favourite!

roof, 19a it may be above, below or excellence.

I really enjoyed this one unlike last week's and I'm very happy that I still have my ancient school bible. FOI was 8 down but as I spelt it like the craft material rather than the name I was held up for a while. For once I didn't have to use the hints on this forum too much as I got the main theme fairly quickly.

Last clues solved was 22a.

I had a few "why am I staring in this cupboard, at this empty google search bar" moments but seemed to get the oblique clues first.

Still a bit unsure of 23d.

At end or what Jeeves might do?

Thanks Janusz and Geeker

I made good progress since I last posted including getting 9ac. Thanks for the hint about the sport for 19ac Janusz. It's a game I have never played, so never scored. That gave me 19d. So I just have 23d, 26ac and 27d to get now. I think I know 26ac and 27d, but could do with a hint for 23d, which might then confirm them.

We're having our first real rain in Exeter this evening that we've had for weeks. I thought you'd like to know. It's great.

My FOI was 10ac like many others, then 20ac and 7d. My LOI will be 23d or 26ac or 27d. My COD (I've forgotten what this means ) is 24ac

Magnificent! I always like a theme, and I reckon today we have at least four linked, covering 21 clues or solutions - with a few hitting at least two of the themes and 5d and 7d going out of their ways to avoid theme links!
Despite being a card-carrying atheist, I managed to complete without looking at the forum: the only biblical detail I needed to look up was checking what followed 1d. I think I've got most of the parsing, with the exception of 13a; and I share chrise's frustration with the redundancy - I don't see what the last four words of 16d add, for example.
FOI 10a closely followed by 13a, which was removed and added a couple of times before I was sure if it. LOI 24a. Lots of COD contenders, I think 23d just gets it over 11a but many others deserve honourable mentions.

Congratulations and many thanks Brendan.

Congratulations also to Geeker for beating our Brendan to the first post (B, please forgive me and be assured I think of you as 'ours' in the most collegiate and non-possessive sense!)

See you tomorrow in Everyman-land

I don't often write into this forum, but do use it regularly every Saturday. We get the Guardian delivered every day, as did my parents. And, like my parents, I love the crosswords. My Dad was an artist and I was brought up at a C of E school and later converted to Catholicism but not too sure about that now! However, it meant that I found Brendan's crossword relatively straightforward and I soon completed most of it.
But... I'm still stuck on the SE corner 22a I have T-N---E and 26a for which I only have the 1st letter as T. Also 23D ----L- and 27D --D-.
By the time I access this site, most of you seem to have finished! I console myself by assuming you live in a different time zone.
Thanks to you all, I now regularly finish the Saturday crossword and am hoping to do so today.