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Good day. Had to take a couple of breaks when I got stuck. Seemed to help. Trickier than last weeks I think. CoD for me is 25a. 8d a close second. Have a good one.

Thank you Everyman for a most enjoyable puzzle. After yesterday's Prize disaster, I have renewed faith in my solver capabilities!

A good one today 5a COD followed narrowly by 1d.. Mistook I for L 2nd word in 26a which didn't help but otherwise an enjoyable solve.

An OK solve but, unless I'm missing something, 14a is poor - the answer being a very different beast from the item that's in the clue.

Simon, I think it’s attempting to sound like a Le Carré reference… not the best though, I agree

Strongly suspect that this was not the work of the usual Everyman ... No rhyming, no alliteration, no linked pairs as far as I could see. Also much trickier than most weeks ... for me, anyway.
25A really needs a hyphen between resistance and shunning IMO.
LOI, 5A, due to its counterintuitive synonym.
COD 27A due to its perfect homophone (which reinforces the suspicion that the regular setter is on a break!).

Ha! thanks Jono. I didn't see that until I said it out loud. I'll let him/her off then.

Simon and Jono - I took 14A as more evidence that this is the work of a different (US) setter.

Nickos, I had exactly the same I/L confusion in 26!
Also missed the Le Carre pun in 14 - credit to Everyman for that.
Re. possible US setter [I'm American], is the phrase 18 common in the UK? I thought it a US term and believe I've seen a different second word in UK cryptics.

geeker
i have seen a shorter 2nd word for 18, but this solution is quite common too