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Thanks to Picaroon, a favorite and one of the most frequent Prize setters. I thought it would be Paul this week after his appearance in #29,044 Thursday night (US).

Enjoyable puzzle but on the gentle side for Picaroon. I've been in dreadful crossword form this week but finished quickly after a slow start. So it's probably easier than the Prize norm. Quite a few "low-hanging fruit" clues, and a couple (esp. 8) felt a bit awkward, but plenty to like.

Clearly thematic, some of the thematics involve GK friendly to American solvers, which helped. FOI 16, LOI 6. The solution to 28 seems obvious from wordplay, but the name doesn't ring any bells (granted, I'm out of touch with popular culture).

COD tie between 3 and 12. Clues 2, 1, 6, 10, 19d and 17 also received consideration.

It's always a relief when the theme clue is fairly straight-forward to solve. I think it was my second one in. I liked the fact that all the different ways of using the word were included, although I still struggled to remember all the fictional characters it could describe. A quick Google search suggests that 28a could be a part of the Marvel universe, but it's not my forte either. I thought 22a and 13d were clever.

I'm not sure about how to parse 12a, and I can't see how speaking fits with 14a. I get that you can make another word by adding a hesitation, but my dictionaries say it means dawdling, not speaking.

12 parses as a clever reversed 5 followed by the obvious ("promontory") 4.
Very much agreed on 14, but I assumed Chambers (which I don't own) would justify a "speaking" usage unknown to me.

Thanks Geeker. I had the wrong answer for 12a, even though there aren't many choices with all the crossers. I wondered how my answer related to the theme, but I see now this is yet another use of 16d. I agree it's a contender for COD.

Hi Geeker and Rainman,
Some of the themed answers took a while to come to mind, and I, too, am not familiar with 28a, though I have the answer.
Re 14a. It could work if a 1-letter abbreviation for 'gentle' (usually 'soft') is the first letter.

Hi Geeker. 28 is a UK politician

Well, this went more easily than I was expecting, helped by seeing 16 straight away (I've seen a very similar clue quite recently, I think).
I don't think 8d quite works either.
Lots of favourites, but COD for me 13a, for the length of time I took to see the parsing!
Yes, the first letter of 14a is clues separately.

Good fun I thought. Agree re 14a parsing.
Chris, in 8d “while” is the first and fourth letters (not first and second), this got me too.

ah! thanks jono

Nice gentle puzzle but (as always) one I can't parse - 13d - help appreciated
FOI 16
LOI 3
COD maybe 29