Cryptic crossword No 112

I really enjoyed solving this - thanks Bairbre! Some lovely words and phrases in the grid. My favourites were 9a, 12a, 20a (particularly), 24a, 5d & 11d.

Great work, Bairbre. Many really fine clues, particular favourites being 1a, 9a, 16a, 26a, 2d (an original clue for a short and common word), 3d (a bit topical after Chesham & Amersham...), 4d, 14d. 12a is nearly brilliant but could have been improved, perhaps, by a more apt anagram indicator, and the surface of 19d doesn’t work terribly well - but that really is a very minor cavil about a first rate and most enjoyable puzzle.

As others have said, some good clues. My favourites included 9A, 19A, 20A, 3D and 14D. 12A took me a while (I'm not a parent, so although I know the term it wasn't at the front of my memory!) Didn't manage to parse 13D, but when I saw your notes it was perfectly fair. I think pacify as definition for 19D is a little bit of a stretch, but I think I think I've set some similarly vague ones on occasion, so no big quibble there.