Cryptic crossword No 785

Thanks for the puzzle, Fez - characteristically tight and inventive clueing and I really enjoyed the way you wove your theme, spooky and thorough :D Top clues for me were 1a (very neat), 9a (lovely construction), 10a (likewise), 14a (neat), 15a (great assembly), 20a (very smooth), 23a (nice surface), 24a (clever and smooth), 27a (clean), 4d (neat), 8d (nice surface), 21d (nice construction), 22d (very neat) and 28d (neat) - this was great fun, thanks again!

Great stuff Fez! Found it hard to get going but it gradually and satisfyingly unfolded although I did need some parsing help here and there from your notes. Super theming and I love the inventiveness on display. Very long list of favourites: 6A, 15A, 20A, 24A, 27A, 3D, 7D, 17D and 22D. Spoilery thoughts on questions in notes....

Up to your usual standard, Fez. I found this easy to get into but slowly ground to a halt (a rather frequent occurrence, these days, on MyC. Everything's getting harder or I'm losing my abilities!) I had to resort to a bit of revealing in the South. Favourites include: 9a (nothing like a bit of self-deprecation - and this was nothing like ...), 10a (nice surface), 15a (loved the incorporation of the event), 20a (interesting construction), 24a (cute), 29a (smoothly done) Cont ...

Whilst certainly not a walk in the park, overall I found this on the slightly more accessible side for a Fez puzzle, almost Blanchefloweresque in places. For once the theme helped me with a few towards the end. I failed to parse a few that I bunged, normal for me and reading your notes is part of my education 😁 NHO EF Schumacher so 17d was a guess based on def and crossers, but I’m just admitting my own GK gaps there. Liked 9a, 15a, 23a, 27a, 4d, 5d and 13d. Nice work 👍

Most impressive! So many 'ghosts' in a scarily good gridfill. Loads of neat clues, particularly those for the shorter answers (e.g. 14, 20, 28 - I seem to have similar tastes to sirdakka). Minor quibbles: 16 seems a bit lazy to me (sorry), but at least its homophone works, unlike the one in 5, which to me doesn't work if you take the whole word aurally.