Cryptic crossword No 3,539

Thanks Salt! Even without an official ‘theme’ this hung together very nicely, with connections between almost every clue. I enjoyed the crafty wordplay and imaginative surfaces, with faves including 9a, 10a (brilliant trickery but maybe ‘with Handel…’)11a, 12a, 20a! 1d (but annotation should read ’…central letter…’), 2d, & 21d. Minor quibblets…