The preamble to the puzzle indicated that it included 12 unclued entries, four of which (11a, 35a, 22d and 24d) would represent a recent sequence in the correct order.

Four pairs of the remaining eight unclued entries would relate to one of the sequence in four specific, but different ways.

We were also told that seven of the clues had single letter misprints in the definition parts. The corrected letters would spell out a name which could be paired with one of the sequence. Finally, it was stated that the barred-off letters in the answers to these seven clues could be arranged to form a thematic phrase which had to be written below the grid.

The theme of this puzzle, which became evident fairly quickly, was ‘First Ladies’ of the United States of America.  This was also confirmed by EVE, the title of the puzzle, alluding to the very first lady of all.

The thematic First Ladies, in the order indicated were:

11a: ROSALYNN  - wife of Jimmy Carter, President 1977-1981

35a: NANCY - wife of Ronald Reagan, President 1981-1989

22d: BARBARA - wife of George H W Bush, President 1989-1993

24d: HILLARY  - wife of Bill Clinton, President 1993- 2001

A full term Presidency runs from 20 January in the inaugural year, for 4 years.

There was no mention of LAURA, wife of George W Bush, the incumbent President 2001-date

I found it fairly easy to link HILLARY and BARBARA with 2 pairs of each the remaining 8 unclued entries, as follows:

EDMUND (6a) PERCIVAL (25a) HILLARY - fairly topical given Sir Edmund’s recent death.

ALFALFA (1d) and PURPURA (32a) have the same structure as BARBARA with a repeated 3 letter word followed by A

I struggled a bit with the remaining two. I could associate LORETTA (between 1d and 2d) with LYNN (Country and Western singer Loretta Lynn) fairly easily, so thought there might be some link between ROSA and one of the remaining three words.

Assuming that all the remaining unclued entries were either names, or words in Chambers, I did a bit of research.

As a result I managed to identify a link between SALVATOR (between 18d and 19a) and ROSA  through Salvator Rosa (1615 - 1673), an Italian Baroque painter, poet and printmaker, active in Naples, Rome and Florence.  I learnt, that as a painter, he is apparently best known as a proto-Romantic who was ”unorthodox and extravagant” and a “perpetual rebel”.  His life and writings were said to be equally colorful.  (I was fixated on SALVADOR being the entry for a long time, which didn’t help)

That left .REVE (after 12a) and COT. (after 17d)  to be associated with NANCY.  There were a few possibilities for each, e.g. BREVE, TREVE and PREVE for the first one, with at least four possibilities for COT..  

A bit more digging identified the words

PREVENANCY and CO-TENANCY, giving me PREVE and COTE as the final pair.

The corrected misprints in the seven clues, actually in clue order, spelled out CLINTON, which is easily associated with HILLARY as shown above.

The barred off letters in these seven clues, in order, were 20a - Y, 28a - R, 37a - FD, 5d - L, 9d - A, 10d - IT, 33d - S

Re-arranged these spell out FIRST LADY, which had to be written below the grid to complete the puzzle.

All in all , a puzzle with a significant amount of thematic material which made me scratch my head for some time.  Solving the clues did not take that long - about 2 hours.  It took a few more days of thinking to make all the associations, but definitely an enjoyable experiance.  As usual, I learnt some new words whilst solving this puzzle

Too many cryptic definitions for my taste. The answers I’ve not blogged are probably CDs. Quantum’s best clues here are the short simple clues rather than the CDs.
* = anagram
< = reversal
“…” = homophone
dd = double definition

I found this very tough but fun. There are still a few clues that I don’t fully understand though - 10a, 25a,27a and 18d. There’s also a Valentine’s Day Nina in the unchecked letters in the first and last columns of the grid: IVE GOT MY EYE ON YOU. I didn’t spot this until the last couple of answers were filled in, which was annoying as an extra letter here and there would have been a big help for some of the clues.

Not too difficult a puzzle, I thought. Solving time, 15 mins. All the four 15-letter entries were direct anagrams.

Notes on some clues below - happy to explain others if asked.

ACROSS

1 A RAM IS One of the Three Musketeers

17 T(he) ORC

DOWN

5 CA(u)SE heart = central letter. Definition: odd character

9 A ITCH The letter (character) H

15 S (AMOS) A 2-letter crossword staple SA (sex appeal) = IT

18 CORPS “Core” i.e. not peripheral

I do not recall coming across Falcon before and am almost sure I have not done a Weekend FT puzzle by this compiler. I found this particular one very easy which is a little curious because usually with a new compiler I find I need a little time to feel my way into his/her style. I especially liked clues 10A and 7D. 15D is also clever but the reference is perhaps a bit obscure for us non-Londoners.

Across
1. POT ROAST - anagram of POTATOS around R (right)
5. STUBBS - ???. “Squat” suggests stubby but I do not fully see how this clue works
9. GREEN TEA - anagram of TEENAGER
10. DE NIRO - anagram of DINER + O (duck)
12. OUTRE - OUT (mistaken) + RE (about)
13. PEA JACKET - A (a) + JACK (sailor) + E (eastern) in PET (dear)
14. SQUARE - double definition
16. TERRAIN - TERRA[p]IN
18. ACERBIC - A (a) + CERB (homophone) + IC (in charge)
20. RESIDE - RE (on the) + SIDE (border)
22. METER MAID - ME (me) + TERM (call) + AID (assistance)
23. BROTH - BOTH (the two) with R (drop of rice) inserted
24. ADONIS - A (a) + DON (boy) + IS (is)
25. AUGUSTUS - AUGUST (distinguished) + US (American). Augustus (originally named Octavian) was the first Emperor of Rome and a grand-nephew of Julius Caesar.
27. CHARTRES - CHARTS (traces) around RE (about). Home of one of my favourite cathedrals.

Down
2. TWENTY QUESTIONS - TWENTY (score) + QUESTIONS (asks)
3. OUNCE - double definition…and one I have seen, it seems, maybe a bit too often.
4. STEEPLE - STEEP (high) + LE (the Parisian)
6. THESAURUS - HES (he’s) in TAURUS (house)
7. BRICKS AND MORTAR - anagram of SMART IN CORK DRAB
11, 26. WALT DISNEY - anagram of WE SIT WITH DYLAN
15. AUBERGINE - AUBERGE (where French diners may go) with IN (fashionable) inserted. I gather that Aubergine is a fashionable restaurant in Chelsea which, at a stretch, makes this a semi-&lit.
17. FARMHAND - FAR (remote) + M[unic]H + AND (too)
18, 1, 8. CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING - anagram of ANTHOLOGIES COPYING
20. REDRUTH - RED (embarrassed) + RUTH (girl)
21. THESIS - THE (article) + S (second) + IS (is)
23. BLUER - E (centre of Leeds) in BLUR (mist)