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I enjoyed this challenge from Picaroon, with some lovely surfaces and misdirections; but it is quite GK-heavy.
FOI 13, LOI the very clever misdirectional 14.
COD? Spoilt for choice, but my own special interest is pointing me to the lovely 26.

Another first-rate effort from the ever-popular Picaroon.

Not overly difficult, but that's not to say there aren't quite a few very tricky parses to unpack, and I still haven't fully understood the wordplay for 10d but, thankfully, the crossing letters and definition meant there could only be one answer.

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

Picaroon certainly covered a lot of subjects and people with this one, from opera, literature, religion and geography to name but a few.

COD - I think I'll pick 1a.

On a side note, I'll be interested to hear from Geeker if 9a is really how "American's get into beer".

Thanks to Picaroon for a great way to kick of a cold December weekend:-)

Please feel free to leave a comment or ask for a hint if you get stuck.

New members are particularly welcome.

Stay safe:-)

Ah, finally see 10d - though I'm not sure how those outside the UK or even some of those within it will fare!

Picaroon used the work in 26a in another puzzle earlier this year… 29,364… see 5d, so perhaps he is also a fan.
I’m also reminded of a superb 2021 bank holiday puzzle by Maskarade … 28,536. I still have the excel spreadsheet I needed to complete that one. Talking of which perhaps we can expect a Maskarade next weekend?

I’ll have to leave the rest of this puzzle til tomorrow morning…

Hi Rogissimo,

I'm a self-confessed philistine when it comes to this, but I think this is the first time I've ecer seen "lovely" and 26a used in the same sentence:-)

Thanks to Prize stalwart Picaroon.
Enjoyed this. Feel P's not in peak form here, but a Picaroon "B" puzzle still ranks high in absolute terms.
Didn't find it easy, but the watch showed slightly below median solving time.
FOI 8.
LOI combination 10 / 12, which was slowed by an error in 9.
Fewer standout clues than usual for Picaroon: COD 5 over 17, 24 and 1a.

Needed to consult Google to solve 10.

Brendan, I think 9a is the most correct American term, though the most often used in my experience is the 3-3 that Jimmy Buffett steps on in that "Margaritaville" tune.

26 happens to be my favo(u)rite [spoiler suppressed] "m***c d***a".

Wow! It seems I have been misinformed regarding 26a - I suppose the only way I'll know is if I listen to it myself.

Geeker, just listened to Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett (lovely tune, by the way) and found the part you were referring to, although It's not a term I'd heard before so had to Google to confirm it was the right thing and not a mondegreen (ooh, well done Bren!) as many people seem think he stood on a 'pop tart" 😂

Haha Brendan: ‘lovely’ referred to the clue rather than the solution, but the latter has some lovely moments (as someone allegedly once said…)

Thanks Rog, that makes a lot more sense 😂