Really nice puzzle, particularly liked 9D! My only real qualms are with 8A and 21A — in both cases the answer is a verb but you’ve clued it as though it’s a noun, I wasn’t able to solve 8A. Would appreciate a parse of EDDIES. Good stuff, thanks!
Thanks! I've finally worked out how to mark spoilers, so I'm now able to reply! I agree with you about 21A - I remember struggling with that issue when writing the clue, as I couldn't find a way of phrasing it that didn't completely give away the parsing - I'm open to suggestions!
I do disagree on 21A, though - outside the context implied by the rest of the clue, "repeated curse" can produce a verb, but I'll fully admit it's a little clunky!
As for 8A: Eddies are current ripples, but Eddie is also the first name of Edward Elizabeth Hitler from the British TV series "Bottom", so Eddie is the first of Hitler's, in Bottom.
I hope that makes sense! Thanks again for the feedback!
Fun enough, generally tough enough, clever enough in a few spots (Colin, bawl, a few others). Seemed a bit UK for me from the US, so I missed Luxembourg and 15A. I figured out Monte Carlo w/o knowing the semantic part. I think 1A and its complement could have had more crossing words (I like to have at least 1/2 the letters crossed), and 4 3-word answers is higher than I like. 2D confused me a bit, as I didn't know if it was (lower case to be clear here): "ai" or "al". And word play of a couple clues still escape me. But in the end, fun enough, thanks!
Oh, and I think of 25A not as an explanation but of a guess.
Hope you find those comments helpful and not off-base!
Hi Arty! A few of the clues are UK-centric, and I'm okay with that, what with living there and all, but I do appreciate that it'll make some cultural references more obscure!
I may be misunderstanding your message, but I don't feel 15A or 18D have a UK bias. 13A and 4D definitely do, but I'm confused about the other two!
15A ED (Edward casually) following FLOW (retreating animal: WOLF) = FLOWED
18D In LuxembourG I'VE THrown a Lordly Presentation = the Lord GIVETH
6D is definitely a "gimme" if you're one of those people that always adds the answer as soon as they read "Monte Carlo"!
The layout choices with the reduced amount of crossing words were down to this grid being filled by hand - a lot of the answers here are in-jokes for friends I've shared it with, with titles of books and plays I've written/performed in taking priority over making the grid more "typical", if that makes sense! None of the answers need this knowledge to answer, however!
I agree with you on 2D, I knew some people would read it as "Artificial Intelligence" and I dislike that I was forced there by typeface choice. Consider that clue part of my campaign for the reintroduction of the serif!
You mentioned wordplay in a couple of the clues still escapes. I've parsed 4D in a comment above (although I was clever enough to mark it as 8A (sorry)). I suspect that with the UK/US issue, you'd like me to explain 13A:
Flower (as in river (that cheeky old trick)) = THAMES. Wise move with comic partner: Morecambe and Wise were an extremely famous double act towards the end of last century, and are a cultural touchstone in the UK. They famously (and controversially) moved from the BBC to Thames TV (one of the other networks). I can't truly explain why, but it was a MASSIVE deal, with some papers saying it was a "betrayal", etc. They never really broke America, but find them on YouTube and see what you think.
Sincere thank you for the feedback, sorry for the essay in reply, but let me know if you want more parsing!