Cryptic crossword No 538

Really good work moobius. Much tighter than your first and with the same sense of fun and humour. I enjoyed this and your instructions were much clearer. LOI was 15a; saw what was going on once I had the crossers. Learnt something new with 14d, thanks. 18a is brilliant. Other favourites were 17a 22a 1d and 21d. Some spoilers in reply.

Moobius, you got great comments already from Guava, and I'll just chime in that my reactions were similar. 18a is a beauty, and there's a fine overall sense of fun.

Thanks moobius, this was light and breezy and I very much enjoyed it. Very clear and concise wordplay and good surfaces. I had a few minor quibbles, all covered by Guava's comments. Favourite clues were 11a, 23a, 1d and 13d but special praise for 18a which is superb.

My word, that is a step and a half forward from #1 moobius. Many congratulations. I'd imagine the word count is halved! (And that comes from a naturally wordy one!). I liked the range of devices, some of them very smartly employed indeed. Favourites include: 15a, 18a (lol), 23a (lovely), 1d, 21d. 7d & 16d almost there! 4d deserves a mention for sheer effrontery and COTD is the glorious 5d. (It felt like it should be a chestnut but I haven't seen it anywhere else. Well done). Thanks. PM

That was a wonderfully satisfying puzzle, moobius. I've not tried your first yet but for this as a second upload is very impressive, bravo. You pull of a massive variety of mechanisms really well, and more importantly, sufficiently gettable which is the main part of setting that I've found really difficult. My favourites were -

Liked that. I thought it was something like a reasonable Guardian Quiptic, with some really clever but still decipherable wordplay. I didn't quite finish, had to reveal 25a but the penny dropped straight away once I saw it. 18a is genius. 4d and 7d both made me smile. Nice work!