Phi was not on his usual day, so I realised that something special was happening.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Day: 29 March 2019
Financial Times 16,128 by WANDERER
An excellent challenge from WANDERER this Friday. Rarely see so many interwoven clues in a single crossword. Needed dictionary verification for a couple of new words for me.
Guardian Cryptic 27,781 by Enigmatist
Very tough going, with a quite a bit of checking and parsing after the fact. Favourites were 17ac, 26/6, 7dn, and 18/28. Thanks to Enigmatist for the workout. Edit: and congratulations to Enigmatist – thanks to crypticsue for pointing out that this is the 40th anniversary of John’s first Guardian puzzle.