Cryptic crossword No 381

Thanks PostMark, got everything with a little bit of help. Very impressive to have themed every clue (I assume, I lack the required gk to confirm :) ). Lots of good clues, in particular I liked 4a, 10a, 21a, 3d, 6d and 23d. Additional comments in reply.

Very impressive theme maintenance PostMark, with lots of great clues. I particularly like 9A, 16A, 17A (excellent), 21A, 26A, 3D and 16D.

I have just tackled this and enjoyed it. I treated it as I would any daily crossword, by which I mean I didn't use any references. (Weekend puzzles are different - I need references!) I failed to solve 11a, 13a and 1d, and I can safely say that if I had managed to get 1d I would have got the other two. I was once familiar with Thomas and the other characters, but I don't remember Harold the helicopter. Congratulations on working so much of the theme into this puzzle.

Nice one, PM. I'm not a fan of the theme but I'm suitably impressed with the way you've woven it through the clues. Highlights for me were 1a, 11a, 16a, 26a, 20d. No idea about the definition for 1d but the wordplay is clear enough. Further slightly spoilerish comments in reply...

Another excellent crossword and I think this was a step up on the previous puzzle of yours that I solved both in terms of difficulty and overall smoothness, all the more impressive considering the extent of the theme. 26A was the highlight with 3d running it close. Interlinked 20d and 24a caused me the most problems, the latter a new word but clued helpfully and of course fairly. Thanks PostMark. SPOILERS possible in reply.

I saw DB Puzzles solving this on youtube - well done on creating this puzzle - no mean feat! Lots of lovely stuff going on - I think the 'fat controller' was my favourite!