Cryptic crossword No 440

Excellent puzzle Owlbazaar - just the right level of difficulty for me, and lots of lovely wordplay! I finished in the SW corner, but feel like I should've gotten 14d a lot sooner given the similarity to my recent https://www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/439#3-down. Other favourites were 1a (a neat way to start), 12a, 24a (I liked the wordplay but the surface could perhaps be smoother a bit), 26a, 5d, 8d - well done! A few queries in reply

Well done Owlbazaar, this is much improved setting, there's still a few quibbles, but you've clearly listened to the advice on your previous puzzles and worked hard. I enjoyed solving this and ticked several clues as worthy of mention including 1A, 10A (simple but very effective) 17A (perhaps a stretch but I liked it), 20A, 26A (lol),14D (for the cheek), 18D and 21D. Some spoilers in reply.

This is a properly good puzzle 🎉. Not flawless (everyone else has been over the quibbles so I won't rehash them) but nothing here is fundamentally broken and the rest is fun enough to carry it. It's a solid set with some jokes that don't land — you won't lose the audience if the joke after lands and nearly all of these do.

Nice one, thanks Owlbazaar! I agree with everything that’s already been said (both the positives and the quibbles) so will stick to my list of favourites: 1A, 20A, 5D, 13D (although I’ll admit to some Googling, I still enjoyed the penny drop) and 21D (despite lack of QM).