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Phew, glad to see others found this difficult. The central device perhaps similar to Paul’s recent “CO” puzzle. 18 and 20d provided a way in. I did wonder if the use of different letters has a significance other than the surface reading, but I guess not.
Not sure about 14d unless I’ve misunderstood the ‘delicate and magical’ bit. And I’m still to parse 25a despite earlier comments.
Also not sure of the need for the ?s in 1a and 2d.
Liked 3d and 19d.
Does anyone have a green tick? If so, I’ve definitely gone wrong somewhere!

10: defn. "old scanner", parses as (3, 7)
8: defn. "lesser building units". Complicated! Outside is "temporary homes" (5); inside that is ["fish" (3) inside (anag of "cream" (5))].

Took me ages to complete. All the themed clues start with letters A or I, except for 27a? Not sure about the parsing for 25a, though I see a four letter anagram that fits the themed answer. Is it A A or AA for the Alcoholics Anonymous?

Very hard work, with lots of electronic help needed. Not particularly enjoyable either, though I did like 17a,19d, and econd from last 10a.
LOI in was 8d, which really should have been FOI for me!

Thank you Geeker
I finally have the theme. Finding this more irritating than enjoyable unfortunately. Hope to have more fun with the Everyman tomorrow.

Thanks, Mathi. I'd got the theme and that some of those clues started with I. With your A tip I've just got 18 and feel less defeated!

Just noticed that one answer also appeared in last Saturday’s prize. I think I prefer Paul’s clue

Mathi I think the first A is indicating that answer is a themed word and the second one that you need to use another themed word (truncated) to construct it. Really too convoluted for my taste but there it is…

Thanks. I now get what A A means. I thought the four-letter anagram was related to AA.

Might be more concise to say that the nine themed clues (plus the one misdirection) begin with words of a single letter.