Cryptic crossword No 370

Welcome to MyCrossword, an excellent debut with some nice clues, 9A very cheeky! Also enjoyed 15A, 16A, 6D again cheeky, 13D telegraphed but fun, and 18D. Generally good cryptic grammar, some nice definitions and a sense of fun. If this is genuinely your first ever crossword then I'm looking forward to your future ones. Some quibbles and questions in reply with SPOILERS

Hi HairApparent, thanks and welcome to the site! I won’t repeat Blah’s helpful comments other than to agree that the inventiveness and sense of fun that you have demonstrated in here reveals great promise. My favourites were 18A, 22A, 2D, 12D, 14D (notwithstanding no “?”!) and 18D. I would have added 11A but I’m not convinced by the definition, and 26A but think there may be a problem with the fodder? A couple of further suggestions in reply.

Welcome, HairApparent. As Blah has said, if this is your first crossword then future ones will be eagerly awaited. Particular favourites 9a, 10a (clever combination of ideas and a good surface), 11a (though I share Coot's doubt about the definition), 13a, 16a, 18a, 20a, 22a, 4d (very neat, and it's always good to get a clever clue for a short word), 6d, 7d, 14d, 19d, 24d (another well clued short word). Some spoilers/quibbles in reply. Annotated solutions are a good idea and a useful discipline.

Hello HairApparent and welcome. A fine opening salvo and I look forward to more. Lots of good stuff in here: 15a, 18a, 3d, 11d, 17d, 21d all got ticks and double ticks for 9a, 6d and 18d. 9a is a beaut! I won't repeat the excellent advice given by others but a couple of minor constructive points in reply. SPOILERS IN REPLY.

Hi and welcome HairApparent! To agree with what others have said - this is a really promising debut with some lovely tricks. Getting a test-solver and writing out annotated solutions will be good checks for the future (and even with two test-solvers who successfully completed the puzzle, I once submitted a crossword to Alberich's site with a glaring mistake in it!). Looking forward to seeing more :)

Thanks for that puzzle, HairApparent! I found it very entertaining, and loved the surfaces of many clues, and some awesome wordplay too. Particular favourites were 8a, 9a (brilliant!), 10a, 18a, 20a (while a bit long, was fun to parse), 6d, 12d, 13d, 18d, and 21d took a while to click, but I love the clueing, well done all round!

Welcome to the site. Just popped in to say I really liked 13d 14d 18d and top favourite was 9a when the penny finally dropped. Thanks for the fun puzzle!