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Kite set the cryptic last Friday. He commented at the time…
“most of my crosswords do have a theme because there has to be some inspiration to fill a grid”.
Hmm… 🤔

Doh! Just got 21 and 24.

Hints then please, Simon!

24a requires a change to one letter

21d think music

Thanks Simon - should have got 21

You're welcome, Chris.

Thanks Simon ! Great clues.

I've got the answer to 25a but can't quite see the parsing in the middle ... what is 'special' doing?

‘Special’ provides the 4th letter (inserted in the ‘case’), rosencrantz. Although it was my COD, I think the possessive (‘wife’s’) is redundant and only there for the surface. But I may be being hypercritical, or even wrong.

I agree, Rog. We need to read it as ‘wife has’ where ‘has’ is a joining word.

On the subject of 25a, knowing that Kite is a keen windsurfer, I thought that 25a, together with 12a and the first part of 16d might have been the makings of a theme, but that doesn’t seem quite enough. Curiously, there is a word that would fit in 23d which might have clinched it.