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As it's a Bank Holiday, this week's puzzle by Brendan has a Special Instruction (SI).

It took a few readings before I finally realised what was being asked of us but, once the penny dropped, I was off and away and I didn't find it nearly as difficult as it first appeared:-)

FOI of the standard clues was 1d

FOI of the SI was 11/23

If you are having trouble getting a foothold in the theme I recommend 9/25 as a good place to start - then it's just a matter of deciding which one goes where (I initially got them the wrong way around).

When there are two answers with the same definition and letter count, it's obviously a great help to have solved as many down clues as possible.

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

There are a couple of SI clues where I can't quite work out the parsing of the second part, namely in 8/26a and 15/17a but hopefully I'll have a PDM before too long.

COD - I'm going for 22d as it tells a nice little story "Son getting into children's literature about space" (6)

Thanks to Brendan for a most enjoyable puzzle.

Please feel free to leave a comment and, as always, if you do get stuck - don't hesitate to ask for a hint.

Stay safe:-)

Thanks for starting the thread, Brendan.
I would have had trouble summarizing this puzzle by your setter namesake. Thanks to Brendan for an interesting and novel challenge.
After a few WTF? moments in which I thought it would be totally intractable, I made steady progress. Despite initial bafflement, it wound up only slightly more difficult than Prize norm.
FOI 10, LOI 21.
Many of the paired clues were ingenious IMO. I'll rank (9,25), (15,17) and (11,23) as co-COD. Best of the standard clues 21, not sure I've seen that particular wordplay device before.

(15,17) is really clever, think Arlo Guthrie!

Another Prize grid amenable to Ninas, but none apparent. The 15th column might qualify as a mini-Nina given the thematic device, but perhaps that's a stretch.

Hi Geeker,

15/17 - Wow! That is an obscure reference if it's what Brendan meant by restaurateur!

21d - Agreed, took a little while for the penny to drop.

Column 15 - Well spotted Geeker:-)

PS - Are you a fan of Arlo?

Brendan, I'm certain the setter meant precisely that obscure reference!

Recall that I live about an hour from Woodstock, NY...Woodstock's local radio station (anachronistically still existent 😂) every Thanksgiving features the following tune (SPOILER ALERT):
https://tinyurl.com/2p8mhye5

.... I'm more familiar with his Dad's stuff but that's only because, in a Bio of Bob Dylan, he said what a great inspiration Woody was.

Snap!!! I swear I was listening to it on YouTube when I saw your post come up 😂

Geeker, I'm sure you're right about it being intentional, otherwise the second part 15/17 would not make sense.

Brendan, apologies for crossed posts...I kinda like Arlo and similar performers, but I'm not as much into folkish music (for lack of a better label) as I was decades ago...enjoy it when I hear it, but don't own any recordings. There are a few semi-local singer-songwriters in that general vein. Growing up in the Chicago area, folk was the second-biggest genre (next to blues, which of course was and still is king there).