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Now I see my problem. I managed to fill in the wrong answer to 11d. And 21d is not a theme word. So I have managed to disentangle the theme.

Onwards and Upwards

For non-fans of Boatman, the estimable Buccaneer (aka Picaroon, frequent Grauniad Prize setter) composed this weekend's FT cryptic 17,011. Enjoyable puzzle, less arduous (IMO, of course) than Boatman's Prize.

Thank you mystogre for your hints.

I broke off to eat my dinner and then wanted to watch the BBC 4 film at 9.00pm which I thought excellent if a little harrowing.

Then back to the crossword, which started to make a lot more sense, though I still have four to get and I'm not sure about several. I'll see how my friend in Sheffield has got on when I ring her tomorrow.

I would have solved it a bit faster if I hadn't written an L instead of a P at the beginning of 11 down. This completely threw me getting the theme. I think I might have all or nearly all of the theme words. I have 12, but there may be two more from those I haven't got.

Thank you everybody for all your hints, but next time it is Boatman, I don't think I'll even attempt it. No sense of achievement. What a waste of time.

I don't know how others feel but I was disappointed by this puzzle. It was a right slog and some of the cluing left a bit to be desired. I may of course have made mistakes so let's start with 13 across:

"Seeds at Wimbledon are embarrassingly volatile, but not lame brain characters" (8)

My solution starts with a three letter word for an alcoholic spirit. If it was obtained by letter subtraction then this produces seven letters and the solution is hyphenated 3-5.

On 8 across where does 'topped with water' fit - I have this as straight anagram.
On 12 across I don't like 'crossword setting'

Many others have commented on 29 across and here I stuck lucky,

Sorry to be a moaner, but I have this problem with a lot of the Saturday Guardians.

Hi Williamseal,

13a - Yes, I'm sure your answer is correct. Anagram of 2 words in the clue minus another one.

8a - A Water Me......

I looked out my puzzle to see if I could answer Williamseal's questions and discovered that I hadn't got round to finishing it. Amazingly the 4 remaining ones that I had put aside on Saturday went straight in today!

I thought that this wasn't really a fair puzzle too. Usually with this type, the number of thematics included is given; not doing so, as with this one, makes it considerably harder.