Cryptic crossword No 137

Good morning. Thanks for this crossword. As a fan, I particularly enjoyed 13a. Can you clarify 25a, please? I can't work out how S has become Z. Thanks.

Ah, I do like the sort of thing in 1d! As Cathie said, 13a is nice. :-)

This contains some really lovely stuff. Long list of likes include 1d, 2d, 3d, 5d, 6d, 8d (could have done with this clue for my recent effort!), 13a, 14a, 20a and 21a. I liked 17d too but I feel it's missing a DBE indicator, a question mark at the end would probably do the job. Well done and keep them coming! Thanks Magnolia.

I really enjoyed this - lots of good clues and inventive without being obscure. Well done!

This was enjoyable (especially as Vlad in the Guardian was even more impenetrable than usual). Particular likes 16a, 25a, 1d, 6d. And 24a and 22d, when I eventually realised how clever they actually were. Yet another delightful dig at Johnson's lot in 8d, too. [SPOILERS IN REPLY]

Thanks Magnolia. I thought this was really good if rather tough (for me at least). Quite a lot of very tricky words, which add up to a hard puzzle. (I certainly wouldn't have fancied clueing 25A!). While I was impressed with the way in which you created meaningful surfaces out of complex cryptic constructions (e.g. 18A) I though the best clues were generally the shorter, simpler ones: 10A, 13A, 21A (although the definition may be questionable), 1D, 2D, 17D.

Great to see you here! I would echo most of Coot’s comment. There is some very impressive clue construction here. Some are mini masterpieces. I particularly admired 16a, 21a, 1d (I love that kind of thing!).