Cryptic crossword No 2,878

Thanks anon_cues & welcome to MyC. Your photo might be off putting to some but it raised my curiosity. I'm impressed that you could include so much thematic material in one grid. I enjoyed clues such as 13a, 19a, & 23a. Feedback in reply.

A few points: Letter selection indicators should be possessive; in 14a 'initially' would be better than 'initial'. In 18d, 'first pair of' would be more accurate. Defintions should be the same part of speech as solutions; in 21a & 9d they are not. In 17a, you have 'Ted' in the clue & solution; Cruz alone would work. Finally, some surfaces were difficult to understand but I got the gist. Chambers crossword manual by Don Manley & clueclinic.com are great resources. Good luck!