Cryptic crossword No 264

Compliments of the season to all

Excellent. Loved 11a. Thanks, Gollum, and a happy Christmas.

Nice to have something seasonal! Some enjoyable clues there - I particularly liked 20a, helped by my physics background; 23a, 24a, 4d, 15d. Some a bit obscure or iffy: 17a, 25a, 16d, 22d. But a pleasant diversion over a cup of tea (plus a bit)…

Nice one, Gollum. Some very entertaining cluing here - you’ll have the homophone police after you for a couple! Favourites were 5a, 25a, 6d, 12d. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Gollum! Thanks for this - good fun and nicely topical. I agree with widdersbel on the Spoonerism! Particularly liked 5A, 9A, 24A, 3D and 12D.

Very nicely done. I particularly enjoyed 6d, 23a, 3d, 19d, 13a & 24a.

Great stuff. Very satisfying when 11A and 8D clicked! Loved the pungently vivid imagery in 5D. I liked 6D too, but I wonder if the 'schwa' in the middle of the solution would have been better served with 'lesser fortunate' in the clue; makes it less smooth, but would tighten up the homophony maybe? Isn't 3D missing a definition, unless one of the words is doing double duty? And I was looking for 'heute' in 14A. Unless I've totally mis-parsed it, shouldn't it read: 'a fool here in Berlin'?

Good fun, thanks Gollum. For what it’s worth, 6d was my favourite

Only one subtractive anagram Gollum? Come on it's bloody Christmas 😉. Two small quibbles with 23A and 5D. Spoiler in reply, really liked 19D and 22D especially.

Thanks Gollum, enjoyed that! Loved 6d and 20a