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Another pleasant Everyman and a great way to kick of a Sunday.

FOI was 12a then 1a and 1d.

I actually spotted a rhyming pair - so there is a first time for everything 😜

24a was the only clue I wasn't fully able to parse, mainly because I didn't know that the word to be removed could mean "deliver", but I've checked in Chambers and there it is so no problems.

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

COD - Initially it was a toss-up between 19d and 22d but I have to give it to the simple but elegant 14d Bespoke material old duke ordered (6-4) - excellent:-)

Thanks to Everyman for a fun crossword.

Please feel free to leave a comment letting us know how you got on and, as always, If you get stuck - don't hesitate to ask for a hint.

Stay safe:-)

Thanks to Everyman, wide range of clues from straightforward to fairly difficult. FOI 6, LOI 8, for which I had to guess/Google.
Funny about the rhyming pairs, I wrote in one of the pair purely based on the expectation of rhyming. :-)
Many COD candidates, after some culling will go with 3 by a narrow margin over 24, 19a, 13 and 17.
Not yet satisfied with my parsing of 8, though I'm certain of the answer.

Hi Geeker,

I was puzzled by the parsing of 8d but, after looking in Chambers, I think it's just that if you add an S to the answer you get a small "fish".

I liked 13d as well - it was difficult to pick a COD this week with so many contenders.

PS I've just learned what an "opera checkmate" is:-)

Wow, less than 45 minutes for this one! Back to the prize then...

Thanks, Brendan. I don't have Chambers, got confused because the last few letters of the solution themselves form a (crossword staple) fish.

Funny, I think I just heard the term "opera mate" some time this past week and immediately guessed what it referred to. Must have been on one of the live broadcasts of either the FIDE World Cup or the Chessable Masters.

Today's (Sat) Chessable Masters had some exciting games: in the Wesley So - Le Quang Liem (both admirable players) final ("set 1"), LQL twice blundered into spectacular Nxh6+ sacrifices in the Ruy Lopez. The second was in the Zaitsev variation, bringing back memories of "Beast of Baku" triumphs in K-K 5 (1990).

In turn, Wesley So once destroyed "the Beast" in an awesome blitz game, https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1820152

Thanks Geeker,

I just found the game on YouTube and Gary did not look pleased!

8d - I see the little fish at the end you were referring to - a crossword favourite indeed:-)

All very enjoyable, but confused about the spelling of 4d matching the ending of 15a. Any thoughts?

Hi Alzy,

They are the same type of clue, so you can actually see the last letter to both of them.

Perfect. All makes sense. I won't bore you with the minor adjustment I had to make. Thank you !

No problem, thanks Alzy:-)