Cryptic crossword No 330

Very nicely done. Very smooth surfaces. Ticks for many including 11A, 12A, 17A, 18D and 21D

Very good!

Very nice indeed. Lovely surfaces. Good mix. There's really no point in highlighting particular clues: delightful all the way through. I can only find 10 of the 12, irritatingly, so I'll need a closer look. A quibble below..

Superb! Really enjoyed this. Loads worth highlighting - eg 10a, 11a, 12a, 17a, 26a/2d, 16d, 21d. Slight reservation about 7d as others have mentioned, but not a biggie. Spoiler in reply…

Very enjoyable crossword. As usual I solved the lot without seeing the theme, but it was very cleverly done. All clues we're good but I liked the amusing surfaces in 22a and 26a! Not quite sure why you needed Lavender in 6d but it certainly held me up.

Lovely puzzle, Alf - thanks. Found it quite tough but I think I was being slow in various places. 18D new to me. Too many good clues to highlight, but if I had to pick favourites: 10A, 11A, 12A, 23A, 24A, 3D and 19D. Only minor niggle is “of” in 9A, which doesn’t seem to have a place and got in the way of me solving it for quite a while.

Nice puzzle, I liked 8A, 11A, 12A, 14A. You have a skill for finding nice surface meanings.

Some of the surfaces reminded me of Hoskins being cheeky - 22a and 22d in particular but you could add 24d, 7d and 12a to that. I enjoy a smooth surface and they were here in number. Ticks for 8a, 10a, 12a, 14a, 24a, 3d, 16d, 19d. Favourite, the 26a, 3d combo. SPOILER IN REPLY

Brilliantly done. Favourites were 9a, 15a, 24a, 5d but really it was all good. Can't even find any significant quibbles to put in a spoiler. Oh, and as someone who insists that the more groan-making a homophone the better, the one you have got here (see what I didn't do there...) is one of the best I've seen for ages.