Thanks! We did it together with my 7-year old before school! I think he's getting interested :)

Great stuff! Although I would probably not call things at the bottom of the list (as "per=a") abbreviations, but I get why they are there.

Not aware of, but Colin Thomas (Twin) had a Magpie puzzle based on Blackalicious "Alphabet Aerobics".

Thanks a lot and congratulations! It's very addictive, and the community around it is wonderful.
2025 is really an amazing Listener year and I really enjoyed this one as well (and it prompted me to finally fill this glaring gap in my education which I avoided for no reason at all up until now).

Congratulations!

The very short version: when I started I couldn't finish either Times daily or The Listener without using aids. And if you allow yourself using aids then the difficulty is about the same (easier for barred ones as less -- no pun intended -- unches!) but the payoff is much greater for thematics!

Thanks! I honestly don't think Listener is on a different level to the Inquisitor. Moreover, I have a theory on why, specifically for novices / non-native speakers, Listener is in some way not harder than, say, daily Times offering..

Deal got a mention not long ago as well:

Swimming beaches west of Deal covered with sewage from east (5)

Although, of course the coastline here is north-south, so the nearest beach west of Deal is in Burnham-on-Sea, not far from Bristol (and some 300km from Deal) and thus I am not too worried.

I don't see why not!:)

I am enjoying it a lot.
As a Magpie/Listener fan, I went straight for the thematic and it didn't disappoint! Since then, done two more -- wonderful stuff! Will send my nitpicking comments by email :)