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It took quite a lot of trial and error to try and get on Brendan's wavelength in this "letter" themed Prize by my namesake and, to be honest, I'm not sure I ever completely managed it.

Quite a few clues required visits to Google to see who was who, like Dombey and Son in 1d, the Nymph in 10a and what the Screwtape Letters are but, as I've said before, I always enjoy learning new things so that's no problem.

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

I still haven't properly parsed 8a and 25a.

COD - A toss-up between 13a and 19d.

Thanks to Brendan for a challenging workout:-)

I look forward to reading how others fared and, don't forget, if, like me, you run in to problems, just post your query on here.

Stay safe:-)

Thanks to setter Brendan for this week's Prize challenge.
I found it similar to last week's in that many clues were rather easy, but several required significant "outside the box" thinking that extended solving time. On balance about median Prize difficulty, maybe slightly on the easy side, but the trickiness of a handful of clues should keep it from being straightforward...

A clear main theme (not a surprising one in the crossword arena), at least one possible sub-theme. Additional subtleties from Brendan wouldn't surprise me, but no ideas yet.

FOI 12, LOI 2.
The NW corner was last to fall; found 8 the toughest to parse.
COD 1d by a narrow margin over 20. Also liked 14, 16, 7 and 18.

Hi Geeker,

Did you like 21d 😉 - to me it just looks wrong but no doubt you think the same in reverse:-)

There are quite a few devious definitions, similar to last week's Prize.

Brendan,
I got 21 quickly, agree that the UK spelling feels more natural. Brendan lives in Oregon iirc, maybe he felt like throwing Statesiders a bone.

In hindsight, the clues I had the most trouble parsing would have been easier if I'd paid special attention to the theme, so to speak. 😉

25a - finally figured out what's going on 😃

8a - I think I understand this but can't shake off a nagging doubt ..

Brendan, I figured you'd like 25!
I'm certain of the, uh, very thematic 8, but it took forever to figure out. Guessing the solution was itself a PDM, but the subsequent parsing took equally as long.

8a - my parsing relies on a certain vagueness in the ""letters from first eleven" part of the clue, hence my "nagging doubt".

I'm a tad tired now 🥱 so I'll sleep on it and see what tomorrow brings ... 😜

Brendan, I parsed 8 the same way. It's weird, but has to be correct.

It's to do with the theme of the puzzle and where you might find them in order.

Hi. Does anyone know how I change the order of the posts so that it runs from first to last, IE earliest to latest. Many thanks in advance.