Cryptic crossword No 49

Excellent puzzle Alf, thanks! - very imaginative clueing. Apart from 1d which I can't parse (GK needed?) I can't find anything to criticise. Some of your clues don't quite meet strict Ximenean rules but that's fine by me when solving: as a *setter* I try to comply with Macnutt's edicts. I didn't recognise all the TV etc. programmes referred to (don't watch much TV) but that wasn't an obstacle for the most part. I see you have a debut also on BD - will now have a look at that.

Fantastic crossword, thanks Alf! So many excellent clues, I'm hard-pressed to pick favourites.

Nice - and ha, 28 is something I've considered doing (def-wise) too. :-D

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Agree with everyone else. This is a very good crossword. Danger of a theme like this is that the standard of clues drops as you try to shoehorn in theme words, but I think you've avoided that almost entirely. Some really clever and imaginative stuff. Thanks.

What an enjoyable and well constructed crossword! It feels invidious to single out particular clues, but I thought 1d was very original (something which I think Laccaria inadvertently demonstrated!) and 26a 27a and 3d were fun, too.

Exactly what Gradgrind says - my heart sinks when I see these in The Guardian, as very often the clues aren't good enough, but this is really lovely. 27a is my favourite, I'd never have thought of that in a million years!

Thanks Alf - there are some great ideas here, and some novel wordplay devices too. I like some of the whimsical surfaces such as 4a, and the neat and natural surfaces such as 23a and 25a. 28a, 7d and the ‘sound of tills’ deserve a mention. But my favourite clue is the last one, 24a.

I was sent in the wrong direction by quite a few of those clues. Some very clever incorporation of the theme - e.g. 20d.

Very enjoyable - thanks Alf! Really impressive to get so many themed clues/entries in with such clear parsing.