Cryptic crossword No 1,546

Thanks Tvertimod - well I couldn't resist the challenge so have tackled the toughie first. NW seemed the toughest, needing e-help for the nice 6d, and though I got 'em, needed your annotations to properly parse 1d & 25d. Faves include 17a, 18a, 19a, 20a, 28a, 2d & 22d. Spoilers ...

I enjoyed this! 6d was doubly familiar to me, so that gave me a leg up - NE held me up longest. I thought the surfaces in general very smooth and witty. Two small comments in the reply.