Cryptic crossword No 1,745

Thanks Dave, nicely done. Faves 15a 25d (though needed a little e-help!), 23a, 26a, 30a (for surface - I guess you maybe had Arizona in mind, but my team Woking are the Cardinals), 1d, 4d, 6d, 14d, 21d and - though I agree maybe pushing it, but funny - 28d. Spoilers ...

Cheers Dave. Favourites for me include 3a, 7d, 15a 25d, and 21d.

Thanks Dave, lots of good stuff in this. I would say rather more difficult than the more recent puzzles of yours that I have done. I started needing some reveals to help me along from c. 60% of the way in. Favourites: 11a, 23a, 27a (notwithstanding Fez’s quibble), 7d and 12d. Spoilers …

Pretty challenging Dave, but not beyond the pale. I struggled in the SW quadrant, but save for one letter reveal, all was gettable. My podium 16a, 23a, 8d and good fun all over. A few clues stretching near or just beyond elastic limit, but on the whole not too bad at all…

Given I found your earlier puzzles quite tricky, the SI caused me some consternation but actually this is the quickest I have done one of yours, Dave. Almost went in in one pass in numerical order with just a revisit to the SW and some running through synonyms of fish for LOI 16d. And that is because I found the cluing very clear on the whole. 3a, 10a, 13a, 24a, 27a, 12d, 14d are my faves. Thanks. PM

Thanks Dave, I finally got to this. I missed four -- 16a, 6d (beyond my GK), 18d, and 21d but I seldom score 100% on any crossword. My favs were 1a, 3a, 13a, 24a, 27a, and the very funny, very clever 28d. Nice job.

Good stuff, thanks Dave. I found it a bit tricky but enjoyably so and only really got stuck where my knowledge let me down (e.g. 15a 25d). Particular favourites were 16a, 24a, 12d, 17d and 28d.

Hello Dave, very good to come across you again - after the Boatman course. Doubly enjoyable puzzle: firstly solving some; then revealing the intricacies of those I didn’t decode (a mini-masonry theme!) Thank you