Cryptic crossword No 1,617

Good stuff Lohengrin. Took me a couple of sittings and a few reveals but I never was much of a solver. Favourites: 7a, 11a (despite it beating me), 19a, 3d and 7d.

Thanks Lohengrin. Like Coot, I found this pretty tough but with bursts of satisfaction when the pennies dropped. I particularly appreciated 11a, 12a, 14a, 24a, 7d, 20d among others. Particularly smooth surfaces for many clues, adding an extra degree of challenge. But some rather stretchy synonyms and wordplay that in some cases I still can’t parse. So I echo Coot’s call for annotated solutions to be switched on, as it really helps when giving feedback. Spoilers in reply…