This is a themed cryptic. There are 12 answers, mostly symmetrical, that fit the theme. They hint at a person, and that person's surname is the meta solution. The title is not a clue to the meta, but it is a clue. I mean one of the actual clues. I couldn't think of a good title, so I just used that instead.
Awesome puzzle! Some great clues in there, with fun flavour all around. Lovely symmetric placement of the theme entries too. Any reason you went with MANDY instead of something like KNOWING where ABSTAIN is, for true symmetry? In any case, great work!
Thanks! KNOWING wouldn't have fit across with RAISING, which was required for one of the pairs. That said, I picked the movies I wanted in advance of filling in the grid, and didn't think to go back and look for others that might fit. A bit lazy of me. I'm normally quite precious about symmetry so I'm not sure why I included the two non-symmetrical themed entries :D
Thanks! KNOWING wouldn't have fit across with RAISING, which was required for one of the pairs. That said, I picked the movies I wanted in advance of filling in the grid, and didn't think to go back and look for others that might fit. A bit lazy of me. I'm normally quite precious about symmetry so I'm not sure why I included the two non-symmetrical themed entries :D
Lovely puzzle, and knowing Cage allowed me to back-solve/confirm a few clues (like 31A). Only rough bit was the dupe of FACE, but both of those clues are terrific, so I can understand wanting to keep 'em.
I particularly liked/was fooled by "Grant loses his ancestor" (5A), "Stop all communication" (15A), "naughty naked ninja" (25D), and 26A, 29A, 2D, 18D.
this was really lovely. I appreciated the symmetry with the films RAISINGARIZONA, NATIONALTREASURE, GHOSTRIDER and, of course, SEACOWBARBER. The clue for AXIS is really good too. Thanks!