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Many thanks to Jack, a relatively recent Guardian setter. I've been a big fan (herpetophile?) of Serpent, his nom de plume in the Indy, and Jack is proving equally enjoyable.

Great fun this week with many "outside the box" clues. Serpent is known for Ninas (often of the musical variety), and there could be some bonus constructs in the filled grid...

Started out slowly, feared DNF for a while but gradually got on the wavelength. Solving time slightly longer than Prize norm, but nonstop pleasure.

FOI 4, LOI 21.

Too many good clues for one COD. First tier of contenders 22, 2, 15 and 13. Second tier 16, 6, 19, 23, 3 and 21.

An excellent Prize puzzle by Jack, full of lots of ingenious and witty wordplay.

FOI was 1d, not because I couldn't initially solve any of the acrosses, but more because it leapt out at me.

In terms of difficulty I'd say it sits somewhere in the middle. True, there are some very tricky clues with intricate wordplay, but there are also lots of more straightforward ones.

If you do get stuck, there is at least one long anagram in the acrosses, and at least one hidden in the downs.

14d is the only clue I haven't been able to fully parse. I can see the definition and how one might 6 (manoeuvre) the "army division" 2 (reversed/retreating) but that doesn't account for the "stop" in the clue, so I'm obviously missing something.

COD - the clever 22a.

Stay safe:-)

Sorry geeker -you posted while I was composing! Hopefully admin will sort…
I see that we are broadly in agreement, and am pleased that my COD is in your top tier.

Wow! 22a certainly stacking up the votes:-)

Brendan
The manoeuvre is the 3rd to 6th letters of the solution, not the first 6.

Brendan, in 14 the "reversed military division" is 4 letters. Being American I had to google to confirm, although now I faintly recall seeing it before. "Stop" is an inclusion indicator.

Of course, thanks Geeker, thanks Rog - I saw the more common (at least in cryptics) 2 letter "army division" and then convinced myself that the first 6 letters was an approximate synonym for "manoeuvre".

Geeker mentioned Ninas, and there are at least a couple. The top and bottom three letters combine with the two answers below and above, respectively, to make well-known phrases. I'm not sure if that is part of a theme or not. The two phrases and a few of the clues, including the popular 22a, seem to be related to chance and/or challenges. I'm sure others will work it out in the morning. I'm too tired to think it through.

Brilliant spot Rainman - bravo:-)

Good fun I thought, some nice wordplay in many clues. Fairly quick solve for me.

I see what others have seen but can’t ascribe any particular significance to those phrases. Feels like we might all be missing something…