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I'm not a big fan of Paul's crosswords but I enjoyed this one. Took a while for the pdm. It was only after solving a couple of the themed clues and realising what they had in common and then a further 5 minutes to understand what the "5/9 of this" was all about. I can't see all the wordplay in 13d.

13d dis-covered.. very rare (as in a steak)… and a specific European!

thanks, jono - and rogissimo - finally figured out what 5/9 is of .... the penny-drop tinged with self-flagellation at the time it took. Incidentally, does any young person understand what penny-drop refers to?

Thanks, Jono

I did all this puzzle thinking that the theme was somehow 5d 9a, which sort of works. Now I realise what 5/9 refers to, it all makes sense!

Per the stats compiled by the excellent “xteddy”, Paul has now set 311 Guardian prize puzzles, and will, we assume, soon surpass Araucaria’s total of 317.

I was tired last night and didn't give Paul sufficient credit for the thematic device. Well done! Although I did prefer Brendan's subtler theme in Friday's Guardian (granted Brendan is a theme specialist).

Serpent aka Jack in today's Indy. Good prospects of a Nina, perhaps of musical nature. That's today's solving challenge.

It was a literary Nina from Serpent today. Bravo. Looking forward to Jack's next appearance in the Grauniad.

Good heavens, geeker. I did Serpent last night after I’d completed Paul, failed to spot the Nina, and couldn’t even see it after I’d seen your post above. Had to go to 225 for enlightenment. I’m absolutely useless at spotting these. Thanks for pointing it out - bravo indeed!

How is 8a parsed?
Answer is pretty obvious as I have all the crossers.