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This is the second (I think) time Brockwell has set the Prize, his previous effort being the brilliant Bob Marley Catch A Fire inspired crossword, and this one is also themed, or partially at least.

I'm terrible at rating difficulty but, if pushed, I'd say it's at the harder end of the scale.

That said, there's only one clue I haven't yet parsed, namely 21,19d but I'll think on it and hope for a PDM.

I am puzzled by 24d though, because, although there is a "strange" in part of the answer, its letters are not in the right order 🤔

COD - Lots of great clues but my fav. is the clever 15a - Look quickly at French seabird (7)

How many themed clues did you spot? Let us know in the comments.

Stay safe:-)

Hi Brendan,

Thanks and welcome to Brockwell, who's following up his popular reggae-themed Prize debut with a second weekend appearance.

Fun puzzle with many nice "outside the box" clues. I suspect a theme, but recalling my woeful wrong guess for the Catch a Fire theme will leave identification to others. 🤣

Mixed difficulty: a fair number of relatively easy "low-hanging" fruit clues, which really helped me get started, but a handful of tricky clues and some obscure (to an American) solutions extended solving time. On balance slightly easier than Prize norm, but I expect most solvers will be challenged in a few spots.

FOI 12, as I began by filling a few scattered short solutions.
LOI "originally" 1d, which was surprisingly tough, but then I went back and had to consult Google to parse and correct a wrong guess on the fierce (21,19), so that's true LOI.

COD 22, funny variation of a familiar wordplay device. Also enjoyed 26, 23, 5, 7, 25 and 13d, so plenty of high points.


[Added] I see 7 possible thematics (counting (21,19) as a singleton) but am too uncertain about the theme.

Brendan, come to think of it:

a) The parsing of 24 also escapes me, same issue;
b) I forgot about 15, which should rank as co-COD with 22.

Hi Geeker,

Yes, thanks to Brockwell - I neglected to say this earlier!

I have to add 11a to my other unparsed but I'll stick with them.

I also have to congratulate Brockwell for a clue answer that is both the name of a famous themed ..... and also a place synonymous with another famous .....

Let me also add 5d to my COD making it joint winner - hurrah!

11 parses as 3, 6. Defn. "candidate".

Hi Brendan and Geeker, re 24d., Chambers has an alternative spelling for 'strange', leading to a word I've not heard previously for the definition. Poetic, apparently.

Cancel my query regarding 24d - eejit that I am, I had the wrong answer 🤬

Thanks Mattrom, our posts crossed.

Yes, a new word to me too but I knew something was wrong when I kept failing to get the green tick - all sorted now:-)

Okay, so far I've spotted 9 themed answers and 6 themed clues.

There is also the first part of a themed in another answer but the second name isn't there so ...

... make that 11 themed answers and 8 themed clues - I hadn't gone back far enough!