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Thanks jono. Just seen the theme
I cannot parse the whole of 3d.
Having problems posting due to long delay with the captchas, so will sign off

Jazz, when you look back in, “bases” in a down clue is saying to look for last letters…

Jono, thanks again. Feeling rather thick not having seen that !

finally managed to construct 7d. one look didn't know it!
saw the theme once i was tipped off.
18a a bit feeble, and 16 and 26d a bit gk - also 31 to some extent.
qaos is high on my "don't bother with" list.

Hi Jazzgirl and Jono. Thanks for so much help! All done. :)

I thought this was great. Tougher than usual for a prize, but easier than usual for Qaos. Loads of good clues, with simpler ones scattered about the grid to get you started. I’ll go with 3 for my COD (also my LOI), but liked many more.
Totally missed the theme though. Ah well.
Thanks to Qaos.

Forgot about Qaos and theme. Made a cursory theme search upon filling the grid but missed it. The pair (29, 3) is funny in that regard!

So, all finished and a really enjoyable but tough solve in parts. Thanks to Qaos. Come again.

Still can't parse 6d or 14d yet. The theme is very much in my line of work, or was at any rate. Can't believe I didn't see it earlier.

COD (and there were a few candidates) 10a.

Brendan presumably you are staring at the table on the BBC website at least until 5pm.

6d splits 3,7 so perhaps look at the last 7 letters and see if there's a word to be made from them if you added a bit at the front. Can't say more without spoilering.

14d is convoluted! Issue = offspring if that helps. Then it's a juggling act of sorts to take a liitle bit out and put a little bit in.

Qaos is my favourite setter. If there's ever an argument for that dubious "on my wavelength" assertion, Qaos would be my exhibit A.

Thanks RichardK. These slightly convoluted parses are what I like about Qaos but you can't always see them.