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Thanks to Prize regular and favo(u)rite Picaroon for this week's enjoyable challenge.

Liked this one very much, but definitely on the challenging side. About 2/3 of the puzzle got filled quickly, but feared a DNF due to several diabolical clues. Had to set the grid aside and return.

FOI 7. LOI 22d.

COD definitely the tricky 2, with 21 a close runner-up. Also enjoyed 1, 4, 3, 7, 15 and 22a.

22d and 2 took embarrassingly long to figure out and greatly extended solving time.

What do other solvers think of the difficulty level?

Much more difficult than usual. I wasn't helped by a fat finger typo to be sure, but it would have been a quicker solve had I figured out 15,17 earlier. No idea who 14 is, but easily looked up. Also unfamiliar with 5d, but the wordplay was straightforward. My LOI was also 22d, but partly because solving the relatively simple 22a was hampered by the aforementioned typo in one of the other crossers. I'm giving my COD to 11.

5 also new to me, but deducible from parsing.
IMO some tricky misdirections, especially 2, but also 25 and 5 (no allusion to the Krays there? 😂).

Definitely on the tricky side. Helpfully I got 15, 17 on the first pass.

No one has mentioned the major gimmick here. Takes a close look at the 17!

I started with write-ins for the first 5 across clues, but then slowed up. The SE proved very sticky. Some unfamiliar words, though the parsings were straightforward enough.
I'm puzzled by 24a. How does it related to 15, 17?

Chris, for 24 you need to interpret 15 in the same sense as 8.

Ah, thanks jono.

I'm really enjoying this. Some excellent clues that really throw you off the scent. I only have a few clues in the SE to finish. I also can't fathom out 24a. Is the meaning the first word because my answer is not really that.

Aah. I had the wrong word for 24a. As soon as I returned the pdm was upon me.

Hi Rocky, 24 parses 3,1. The definition is 15,17.