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Ah, thanks Geeker - that explains a lot.

AOB, just had a listen to it myself - excellent:-)

All done, finally. Quite enjoyed that. Thanks both Brendans.

The only answer I am still puzzled by is 26a, where I am sure it is right, I can parse it, but I have a spare E that I don't know what to do with. (That was never a problem in the 1990s!).

I also wouldn't have got 24a without google to confirm it is real.

Parsing of 26: 5, 1, 2 works for me with "player" (5) from the domain of a certain M. Carlsen.

As my first solve was 10/24, I rapidly twigged what was going on. Unfortunately that hasn't made iy any easier to solve!

I've a cooking morning, so I'll have another look later (perhaps...)

More cleverness from Brendan, both in the pairings and their symmetrical grid positions. Starting with the down clues definitely helped to eliminated most doubts about where the across clues needed to go.
Thanks Geeker for explaining 17, I would have had no idea on that reference!
Great fun but I hope it’s not the bank holiday puzzle, perhaps we’ll get a bumper “jubilee” special next weekend from Maskarade?
Cheers all

Enjoying this so far but haven't made much progress. Off to Taranto shortly so won't finish until later but uick question. Is the parsing of 5d quite obscure? I have a very obvious answer that fits my crossers but cannot make it fit the clue hardly at all other than the maiden part.

D'oh! Thanks Geeker. Again obvious when pointed out. My mistake was misparsing its pair 8a and applying the logic to this one. Once I realised this and that they are a pair in parsing as well as answer, then it all fell into place.

Rocky, 5d parses as three single letters and one word for ‘from nearby country’ (provided you’re in the UK that is!)

On 5d, I wouldn't say it is obscure. The definition is the first two words and the wordplay has four elements with the last two being combined.

Got it. Thanks all. I was nearly there with the country but thought it referred to just two of the letters. Obvious when you know.