Cryptic crossword No 2,161

While really not wanting to be snobbish about what is and isn’t “allowed” in a crossword, we do all like to nitpick here! Most of these “crimes” would raise an objection from most solvers, while others are more a matter of taste – misdemeanours at worst. I welcome your disagreement with my judgments (and, of course, any extracurricular nitpicks) in the comments! Have fun!

Really enjoyed being upset by this puzzle 10/10

Thanks Longyfan, impressively awful! And great fun. I think this should be required reading / solving for all aspiring setters (well, just "all setters" really). By default 25a COTD, very nice (maybe the "some" could be seen as padding but as it remains accurate, hardly a "crime"!) Spoilers ...

Lovingly satirized. 14a / 26a, 20a, 4d all hit home, and I plead guilty. 24’s surface: Lol. I will try to find a way to pin this puzzle as a ready-made reference. So nice, thank you.

Cute idea, well-executed. I enjoyed watching panthera solve this and caught up on the second half of the puzzle this morning. Yep, guilty of many of those sins myself! I think Fez is right in nominating 25a as particularly nice. Many thanks. PM

Haha, that grid! My eyes!! Quite magnificently terrible, an art in itself. Like Les Dawson playing the piano deliberately badly. I only have 33 quibbles 😆 well done

As Dick Emery would have said, it is awful, but I like it! Very cleverly done Longyfan 👏

I think I've done most of these in my two puzzles on this site! Thank you Longyfan for this invaluable learning resource!