Very cool theme! Heh I misread the clue for AREA and put ASIA there. Obviously couldn't get any of the downs there but was so confident that was correct that I never even considered changing it
calica 13:52 · 2021-12-20T05:38:59.036Z
Same! I read it incorrectly, but when I read it correctly I assumed it was an author error
For any future solvers: I've tweaked the clue for AREA. It used to be "48A is a very big one" rather than the new "A 48A is a very big one". Hopefully this new version is easier to parse, and if so then this is an explanation as to why all the early solvers tripped up.