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A second tough Prize offering in a row, this time from Brockwell. Took me a while to work out what was going on, and when I did it helped with the last few clues. Ingenious, wide-ranging and very chewy in places. I enjoyed the challenge.
FOI 3, LOI 17, which took me a long time to parse. Joint COD: 4 and 12, which once you’ve worked them out will probably cause you to judge me…

With you on 4 and 12 Rogissimo - it's enough to make Paul blush 😲

Yes, very tricky indeed. Thanks to Brockwell. I often get nervous and have trouble with relatively unfamiliar setters, but I think this was a real challenge. I really enjoy "outside the box" cluing.

FOI 1, LOI 24.

Some naughty parts, I had (4,12) as joint COD for a while but decided to go with 17. At least 10 clues were somewhat COD-worthy...I gave up enumerating the candidates. Let's just say there are many clever/non-obvious parsings.

Brockwell seems to favo(u)r themes or special features. I have a strong feeling this puzzle has at least one, but can't fully grasp it.

Hi geeker
The only special feature I can see is an across clue (won’t say any more for fear of giving the game away too soon).

I think I'll upgrade 5d to my COD - both wordplay and definition are outstanding.

Yes, brendan, 5d was excellent IMO, even brilliant. I was lucky to figure out the wordplay fairly quickly after initial confusion.

Agreed, brendan - 5d really is excellent. I also have a lot of time for geeker’s COD at 17a.
All in all, I feel that Brockwell has given us an embarras de richesses, rendering the selection of a single COD almost invidious.

I was the exact opposite Geeker, it was LOI by a considerable amount, which, of course, made the eventual PDM all the sweeter:-)

geeker
Just to enlarge slightly on what I’ve written above: I think that the special feature is essential to the parsing of one of the clues.

I think I see what you mean, rogissimo. I did employ a perceived feature of the grid to deduce a solution I was unable to parse (totally stumped, in fact).