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All done. Liked 24 (LOI)

Enjoy the sunshine and watch out for the eclipse

I found this fairly easy, and managed to complete it without reference to the Forum, except for 24a, although I agree with some of the criticisms of definitions. Despite all the hints I am still baffled. I am not familiar with Tolkien and Googling him has not helped. Apart from the Tolkien reference, what about the rest of the clue? "a bore"? "That's not on"?

take "on" away from a creature, only one of which appears in Tolkien, as I remember, to mean "bore" as either noun or verb

The creature (plural) is the last word of the title of a well-known (?) fantasy game which is sometimes referred to by its initials.

Thanks Chris and Geeker. All clear, and I now understand Chris's original comment.

Didn't like that clue. Calling that beast a Tolkien creature is absurd. Yes, one featured prominently in The Hobbit, but they have been around a long time before that. So I ran through a mental list of things that could more reasonably be considered "Tolkien creatures" such as the aforementioned Hobbit. Orcs, ents, whatever, but not ______.

Definitely on the easier side today. Strangely my biggest beef with this was my FOI 1a. Does that really mean invent? Also 3a very weak. The film is called that because it is in Manhattan at that location.

But hey, liked the 8 15 link and 13d.

Jules re 6d it is the &lit clues that often have an exclamation or question mark to indicate the whole clue is the definition and the wordplay.

An enjoyable solve, as usual.

But I am disappointed in the laziness of whoever wrote the clues today.
The two parts of 3A are ludicrously related. The clue for 12A contains one word of the answer verbatim. The answer to 29A is a first cousin of a word used to build it ("Thomas" in the clue).

These gaffes are typical of inexperienced or maladroit setters.

Thanks Bowergirl. So is 6d not a &lit then? How would you describe this clue? Maybe it's the phrasing I am having a problem with; it just seems very clunky. Wouldn't 'Where leading ladies and appetisers appear' have a smoother surface? Or would that make it too simplistic? I'm not that experienced a solver, so I'm not trying to be difficult - just trying to understand!