Cryptic crossword No 2,402

I found this one quite tricky, Henri. Not so much the missing word but some definitions and synonyms did not come to mind as quickly as they should have and some of your fodder items were hard to identify. Most of them seem reasonable with hindsight. Faves inc 13a, 14a, 17a, 23a, 5d, 10d, 16and 20d. Thanks. PM

Thanks Henri for another well-crafted crossword. I figured out the missing word fairly early (9a was the clincher for me) and that helped a great deal. My top picks were 9a, 17a, 23a, 2d (nice imagery), 10d (liked the def.), and 13d. I needed your notes to parse 11a & 3d. All else made sense.

Very cool idea, Henri. While I got to the hidden word early (I think via 22a), I still sought help from the underlines and the Chambers quite a bit as my skills are not yet up to par. 15a, for instance, I guessed with checking letters but had little hope of solving that one properly! That said, the entire puzzle was enjoyably challenging; some favorites: 12a, 19a, 24a, 2d, 4d (used it in class today; they liked it too), and the skillfulness of 5d. Thank you!

Nice one Henri, thanks. I clocked the missing word very quickly and that certainly helped. The top half of the puzzle went in very quickly but the SW and, especially, the SE took much longer. I just couldn’t see 27a for some reason, so that was a reveal. Favourites: 8a, 14a, 17a, 6d, 13d and 16d. Spoilers …

There's a very 'Henri-like' crossword in this weekend's Wall Street Journal by Patrick Berry, one of the best in the US. A bit of American GK is needed but not much. You would enjoy it! https://www.wsj.com/articles/pairs-trading-saturday-cryptic-puzzle-may-3-00733dc7