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It took quite a while for me to get a foothold in this week's puzzle by Picaroon, and I did fear it might be another difficult one but, thankfully, once I got going they all started to fall nicely in to place.

FOI was 5a followed by 9a.

If you do get stuck there is a long anagram in the acrosses and one in the downs.

I still haven't fully parsed 16d but I'm sure of my answer so will persevere a while longer and hope for a PDM.

COD - I genuinely can't decide between 1d, 27a and 7, 26 - so let's say it's a three-way tie 😜

As always, please feel free to leave a comment letting us know how you got on - did you find this a bit easier than the last couple of weeks or did you think it was just as difficult?

And remember - if you get stuck you can always ask for a hint or, if you can, help someone else:-)

Thanks to Picaroon for a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle 😀

Stay safe:-)

Hi Brendan,

Thanks also to Picaroon, I found this a delightful puzzle. No clearly unique features (e.g. theme) that I could see, but a consistently high level of cluing that made it great fun to solve.
Slow start, as indicated by FOI 21, struggled at first but then made slow progress. LOI was 11, nice clue but depended on unknown (to me) GK ("Robin"), so Google was required. Not familiar with the word 9, but parsing was clear.
Can't name a COD. Once my running list of candidates reached 10 clues, it became too hard to single one out!
I found this above the median level of difficulty, but not as mind-twisting as last week's challenge.

16: defn "lyrical"; "hearts" (1) inside "music genre's" (4), followed by "poetic" (4). One of my COD candidates. One could argue for or against the "and" in the clue, but I think it's OK.

Hi Geeker,

"consistently high level of cluing" - You've hit the nail on the head:-)

9a - same here but it luckily my first guess at "jerk" was the right one.

When I saw 11d I immediately wondered how you and other overseas solvers would get on, but I don't think "Doris" will cause any problems and, as you say, Google can always help with the "Robin".

PS - I thought we might start a thread in November for the World Chess Champs - what do you think?

Thanks Geeker,

16d - I have the the "music genre" around "hearts" (although wouldn't stealing usually mean remove it? but the only definition I can find for the next 5 letters is to with 'silver-white element'!

Ahhhh! I misses the 's - silly me 🥵

I'd certainly like a chess WC thread, but it might depend on (a) overall level of interest; (b) whether mod(s) would consider it off-topic.
I have no idea about (b).
Quite optimistic about (a), though. In the not-too-distant past (less than 12 months ago?), there was an outstanding chess-themed Prize (forget the date and setter, but the "OPENING NOVELTY" clue sticks in my mind). I recall a highly knowledgeable chess enthusiast contributing to the forum discussion.

Yes, we have a regular contributor on the Forum called Paul Habershon who has a rating of around 2000 - he might like to add some context.

Brendan,
Agreed that the use of "stealing" in 16 is unusual, but I consider it a clever misdirect. :-)

I found the awesome chess-themed Prize! 28,374 by Qaos on 27 Feb 2021. The "OPENING NOVELTY" thematic phrase was brilliantly spread over 2 consecutive across clues, which made it difficult to Google...
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/02/27/guardian-saturday-puzzle-28374-qaos/

I'm pretty sure I've got them all, but I can't parse 10a or 23d. It must be staring me in the face, but I can't see it.