Cryptic crossword No 1,886

Hi Flush. I struggled through about half of this and then realised that it was the theme that was defeating me, since it’s not an area of which I’m at all aware. I might come back to it, but the niche theming does seem to have made this rather inaccessible to the likes of me. Sorry to not be able to be more helpful…

Beaten by one at the end where I made a guess at Australian slang and it turned out to be wrong. Otherwise, a completed grid. Some tricky tricks in here, Flush. Likes inc 1a, 15a, 17a, 20a, 27a, 30a, 1d (COTD), 9d (which nearly beat me. Inspirational penny drop - but I did not have the requisite GK. That guess turned out right!), 16d and 20d. Very nice. Thanks. PM

Thanks Flush but this one’s a little way above my pay grade. Managed about 30% before throwing in the towel and reading your notes. Lots of very clever stuff in here!

Came back for another go and got to the end without too much difficulty. You’re right about the theme not being needed to solve, but it does seem to have biased things a bit, perhaps inadvertently. Still, looking back over the whole solve, I did appreciate 11a, 15a, 27a, 16d, 20d, 23d, 26d among others. There was quite a bit of cleverness and wit in the cluing, so well done there. Just a couple of deeper discussion points in reply, spoilers…