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Hi Brendan & geeker,
You weren’t the only two who found this a stretch. But there were a lot of smiles when I worked things out.
Geeker, that parsing you had trouble with came up twice today - 11a as well.
I also had to consult my eDict, to check 27a, but the rest seemed OK.

Hi Mystogre,

I think 'difficult but with lots of smiles' perfectly summarises this puzzle.

I've seen 27a before but only in cryptics - obviously 😃

A struggle is what this was, and unlike you all it did not give me many smiles. There were a few though. One of my favorites was 12, which also happened to be my FOI. Unfortunately, it did not give me a 12. Another contender for my COD was 8.

Even though I miraculously got the check mark, I am going to need some hints on a few parsings: the aforementioned 20 and 26, along with 17. Actually, for 20 it’s the opposite. I see the wordplay, but don’t get the definition.

26a is a famous cricketer.
17a: last four letters are for drink and the first five are for fun, I think.
20d is a golf course term.

26a: I meant, Boycott is a famous cricketer.

Thanks. In 20 I don’t see where porridge fits.

mathi,
Agreed on 17. I hesitated, having the Irish spelling of the first five letters in mind. IMO a homophone indicator would have been more appropriate, but I don't own a copy of Chambers, which probably indicates otherwise.

20d: First four letters are slang for porridge or imprisonment, as per Chambers.

Thanks, geeker. Just looked in Chambers and sure enough it’s craic or crack.

Re 26, so I gather Boycott would be the first batsman, hence 26.