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Very difficult Prize puzzle from Paul that, at times, I wondered if I'd even finish!

There's a sort of mini theme - actually two if you count the references to "artists" with the other focusing around 16a.

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

I still haven't fully parsed 1a, 13a and 21d but I am sure of my answers so hopefully the penny will drop before long:-)

COD - A clear winner this week with 20d - 16's cousin indeed:-)

Did you find this as difficult as I did or were you on Paul's wavelength and sailed through it?

Leave a comment letting us know how you got on and, as always, if you do get stuck just post your query on here.

Stay safe:-)

.... when I say I'm sure of my answer it's because I've got the tick in the app.

Add 26a to those I haven't fully parsed.

26a - Cancel that - I see it now:-)

... and I now see 13a - that just leaves the "your tormentor" part of 1a unparsed.

HI Brendan,
I found the puzzle very difficult, but have had a subpar puzzle week and wasn't sure how other solvers would find it. My big problem was that one of the themes is decidedly UK-oriented.

I struggled, feared a humbling DNF and was not enjoying myself, but finally got a hint of the tougher theme. Then was gradually won over by several outstanding clues. Thanks to Paul for the challenge.

FOI 27, LOI 21. Needed Google to figure out 24.

COD the ingenious 9, but 5, 13 and 20 very close. Also enjoyed 1, 19, 11, 21, 7 and 24.

Quite a few clues have complex parsing, as expected from Paul. Nothing naughty I could spot, though.

1 parses as a 2, 1, 4 sentence where the first word involves "your tormentor".

Hi Geeker,

You're right, 9d is a great clue and I'd marked it down a possible COD.

1a - I get that "your tormentor" is the first 2 letters - I just don't see why?

I had a feeling many of the 16's were UK centric but, even so, I was unfamiliar with some of them and needed Google to confirm.

Brendan, the defn. of 1 is the last 2 words of the clue. Solution parses as a sentence (2, 1, 2) which means the same thing as the sentence formed by (the first 5 words of the clue).

Typo in last post, meant (2, 1 4).

I see "a crony" and the definition, just not why the first 2 letters come from "your tormentor" - I'll look at it again tomorrow with fresh eyes.