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.... I think it does and I've worked it out but still not sure what part "legend" plays - if it immediately preceded "Jethro" then I'd get it, sort of, but it comes between "pub" and "as it were" which I just don't get.

aaahhhh!! "legend" - now I get it. Brilliant and COD:-)

Thanks to Boatman for this Prize.
I found it very tough and it took 3 installments to finish.
Didn't notice the theme until about halfway through and had to Google to verify a few thematics.
Extremely clever, but I've had a rough week, which perhaps resulted in my finding the puzzle somewhat of a grind.

FOI 1, LOI 17. Many ingenious clues, but too tired to select a COD right now. :-)

Hi Geeker,

Sorry to hear you've had a bad week - are you affected by the flooding we're seeing on the news?

Thanks, Brendan but no. I'm in an area vulnerable to flash flooding, but the recent deluge fell East and (especially) South of me. Also missed the terrible Vermont flooding earlier in the summer.
Just some work hassles the past 2 weeks...unexpected and unwelcome since I halfway retired last Fall. :-(

Maybe one could say that a certain across clue, together with a certain down solution, give sufficient hints as to the theme. [Numbers omitted to avoid spoilers].

24 is my COD. The definition occurred to me quite early, but the parsing/solution arrived considerably later!

I liked the definition, Geeker:-)

Great definition, but it took some time before I fired up the synapses, so to speak...

Deserving mention as near-COD is 14. But difficult. I'm even somewhat proud of figuring it out.

My proudest parses were 2d and 25a - both took some real outside the box thinking:-)