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Yes, I enjoyed it too - there are some very tricky clues (leading to very little input!) but there are a couple of loose definitions and some misleading extra words, I think.

Sorry, prospero - I was unusually quick off the mark (should have left it a while longer).

yes, I was held up for ages by putting in the even older administration (I don't think I'd registered that this one was obsolete ...)

Well, finally staggered across the line. That was difficult! I was lulled into a false sense of security at the beginning with half a dozen 'write-ins' on the RHS of the grid. Then things got tricky. It didn't help when I put in an incorrect answer for 3d which I could almost justify. That stopped me in my tracks and the LHS remained pretty empty for a long time. Anyway all done now - an admirable construction and a school-day for me.

I can't fully see the wordplay (ie. for the remaining letters) for 28a or 17d but happy to wait until later in the week for hints.

Hi Simon,

Did your original incorrect answer to 3d end in an 0? If so, I did exactly the same thing - caused me no end of problems 😡 But, like you said, you can sort of justify it but for two of the letters being the wrong way round.

Hi Brendan,

The very same. And, having (almost) justified it, I shoe-horned a perfectly good, but incorrect, word into 10a. It satisfied the definition but I couldn't see any wordplay. Those entries led me to incorrect entries in 13a and 2d, neither of which I could justify. I'd also written in 4d and 20a so trying to unpick what was obviously a bit of a mess in the NW was no easy task. In fact, I only managed to unpick it and make progress once I had the theme, which helped me sort out which solutions were correct and which weren't.

simond9x - 28: second letter = noon, then 4th,6th and 7th are a small moulded mass. 17: last letter is the back to basics, then (going up) next 5 just about = those following (tho Chambers doesn't give it), then do ....

Thanks Prospero. I took the 4th word in 28a as an instruction (grrr!)

17 so simple when you see it!

Many thanks, Simon

Well this was tough, but fun when the light finally dawned. No wonder everyone was in a flap. One comment - many clues (eg 31/11, 10, 5) as well as part of the theme itself require local knowledge and will challenge overseas solvers.

Easily (not a word to apply to this crossword) the hardest for months. I (believe I) have now finished it apart from two solutions, and I am convinced that my down solutions are correct because of the theme. But trying to find which letters are unclued in the across clues is very difficult and I have a vast surplus of letters. I assume there are no answers of the down type here, but only a clue to the theme. Whilst I found the theme relatively easily, trying to find the clue to the theme seems nigh impossible. I even have one possible sequence of SAGG. But any help with 16A (I have ?P?O?E?) and 22A (?T?E?E?) would be much appreciated (although I have found hints of very little help in the last few months!). Or am I totally derailed?