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Wow, that was a real challenge from Paul. Very clever, with a wide range of devices and uses of the theme. I found it tough but very entertaining, with a lot of grins as the pennies dropped.
FOI 5dn
LOI 8ac, only because it took me ages to parse it satisfactorily.
COD: so much competition, but I’ll. go for the very cleverly clued 16d.
Thanks, Paul

I found this a complete beast. Maybe I'm tired, solved late after getting home from a concert, but likely would have had trouble in any event.

Saw a tentative theme early, but took more than half the grid to be convinced it was correct. Theme did prove helpful in finishing. The bottom half of the grid seemed more difficult.

Thanks to Paul, lots of ingenuity here.
FOI 10, LOI 19.
Too tired to think much about COD, but probably 15, which stood out as exceptionally clever. Quite a few contenders, though.

Beast. I’ll say. Somehow managed to complete it, and to be fair, a lot of clever clues, but ones that didn’t fall into the common Paul “look at me I’m so clever” category. Pleased with myself for getting the cricket clue, although looking up Mr. Warne helped.

I actually knew of Warne due to past discussions on forum threads, so got that one fairly quickly. Video link(s) may even have been posted after his passing in 2022, but I can't recall details.

Didn't notice any trademark off-colo(u)r Pauline clues.
Which is funny, because Philistine was rather naughty in yesterday's Guardian 29,451 (see clue 26).

Hmmm, after twenty minutes, I still haven't managed to fill in a single letter. Will have to revisit this when the hangover has abated I think. Encouraged to hear that others were finding it tricky too.

Wow. That was tough. Even though I thought the theme was one of my specialist subjects. LOI 15A which is also my COD.

I'm going to be travelling and then busy later so I don't think I'll be finishing this. Not today anyway. Paul's been quiet of late on Saturdays and I think it's because he's been planning this. One hour in I've got seven answers and I'm not 100% sure of three of those. What a beast indeed.

If I was being very pedantic I would say 9a is a bit loose. Not all 9as are mendicants, no?

Also can anyone explain the extreme right part of 22a? If I have the right answer I don't get that.

geeker - I have to say that very soon after starting this one I felt uncommonly tired as well, and almost threw in the towel for the night. I’m glad I persisted though, as unlocking a couple of key clues led to the remainder falling into place very satisfyingly.
I agree that 15 was’ very clever, and produced a rueful chuckle when the penny dropped after staring at it for what seemed an age.
Incidentally, the clue at 22 is sadly topical given recent events over here, which I presume have occurred some time after Paul finished setting this. If only they would flee at great speed, and for good. Enough said. (Though re the clue, I would suggest that it’s perhaps unfairly general, especially for non-Brits).