Absolutely. It was nothing to do with the theme, or the clues or anything I can put my finger on: just a vague [and unusual with a Brummie] feeling of dissatisfaction on finishing. I only commented because someone else felt the same way. Maybe it was just the way I was feeling yesterday – but I thoroughly enjoyed the Anax!

Confidence restored with today’s Arachne!

“In sooth, I know not why I am so sad……but how I caught it, or came by it, what stuff `tis made of, whereoft it is born, I am to learn.”

(I know how much you enjoy Shakespeare!!) Have a good day.

So, yes, themes and surfaces cán make a difference.
Brummie’s theme wasn’t spectacular, but to be honest, in the end I don’t care that much about themes. I rather prefer to have an immaculately clued crossword. And Brummie’s wás one, without any doubt.
Personally, I see a theme (usually) more as a bonus.
Value added (as it certainly was in anax’s Indy puzzle today).

In this Brummie there were, for me (but apparently not for everyone), enough smiles and clever constructions to appreciate the puzzle.
As I said before, some may not feel too much excitement (I do understand that), but there’s nothing wrong with the clueing as such – in fact, it was excellent.
And at least for me, that is what it’s all about eventually.

Ah well, we are back to basics: we’re all different, aren’t we?

I think Martin H`s response to Anax goes a fair way towards explaining the sense of unease we both (and, it would appear, others) feel. If, for example, the theme subscribed to the Auteur theory and all the films were made by the same director, I think we might all be applauding Brummie rather than vaguely finding him wanting. He is an accomplished setter and, like you, when I saw his masthead I relished my lunchtime solve.

Yes, Dave (@14), I spotted the repeated use of I for Independent, but apart from that I cannot spot anything that’s wrong with this crossword.

Our first couple of entries were MONA LISA (28ac) – very well clued – and REDS (25d), but we didn’t see any common link at that point. Only after (soon after) finding out that 26d was FILM, the theme was cracked.

Just like many others we fell into the ALI trap – a film fresh in our minds, as it appeared in the Brendan crossword.
Can we blame Brummie for writing a clue that potentially can have two solutions?
I don’t think so. I’m quite sure that he was so much focused on clueing RAN that ALI didn’t sprang to mind.
The same with 2d. My PinC knew the film (BABE), but I was, just like Duncan [thx!], thinking of BIKE.
I’d never heard of UNFORGIVEN (13d) as a movie, but for my PinC it did ring a bell.

The theme was clear – the films were, however, not always obvious.
But why should should they be?
For example, we found 3d’s MISERY by construction, thinking it might be a film. Fine.
We adjusted quickly to this approach of the theme.
With films as a theme, we thought Brummie using less obvious titles made it a lot more challenging.
And it didn’t stand in the way of completing the puzzle.
After an hour or so we had everything right without external resources.

Moreover, the crossword was impeccably clued.
With some nice touches, like the pop music surface of 26d, the anagram of a two letter word [ever seen thát before?] in 26ac, the splendid anagram fodder in 28ac and the combi ‘Fixed price’ in 24ac.

Perhaps, some people (like Carrots – and I only mention his name because he mentioned mine) had an indifferent ‘feel’ about this crossword, but for us it was a Quality Product.
One of many this week.

You didn’t answer the main point I made in my entry at 6. Perhaps, of course, you didn’t intend to, but I’d like to know what you think: when the definition part of a substantial number of clues is reduced to ’26 down’ – and this applies to any theme where the solutions could be drawn from a list – the solver is robbed of much of the pleasure of the puzzle – that element which consists of teasing out the definition from the wordplay. Instead we have a sort of cross between a cryptic and a general knowledge puzzle. To me the two are radically different, and while a GK might gain flavour from a small dash of wordplay, I don’t think the reverse is true.

I’m really glad to see your comment. Your Auntie E, like you, has kept a close watch all day, without commenting. My heart leapt when I saw ‘Brummie’ on the puzzle. I finished it, without too much bother, and ended up feeling much the same way as you, I think.

I’m sorry I can’r help you but I’m glad to see that someone else reached the same [non] conclusion as I did.