Cryptic crossword No 1,478

Welcome, soleil, to MyCrossword. Congratulations on your puzzle: I wasn't entirely sure what I was encountering here. There is a mix of cryptic and non-cryptic clues in here and some that are way beyond my understanding (eg 9a and 7d/8d/20d). If you produced annotations, it would be helpful to have those visible to us (you select it under Solution settings). Thanks. PM

Welcome, Soleil. This was an interesting puzzle, though the top left quarter of it defeated me. Like PostMark, there were a number of clues I just didn’t understand; I echo the suggestion that you enable Annotated Solutions. It helps the solver and is also a useful discipline for the setter because you have to be able to explain how a clue works. (Spoilers in reply).