Cryptic crossword No 540

Highly recommended and I’ve only got 9 solutions so far! Enigmatic surfaces gradually unravelling to reveal some characteristic wit and charm… very good fun.

Excellent sirdakka! Both love and hate 23A (obviously you know why). Well done!

This is a super puzzle sirdakka, as fun and as inventive as any I’ve solved on this site. I loved it! Definitely one I’d like to tick twice. Going to start a new tab to discuss the clues as I don’t want to give anything away for other solvers, so SPOILERS follow:

Well done, sirdakka, I really enjoyed this - some clever, inventive clueing. My favourites were 10a, 17a, 5d, 9d. I share Blah’s reservations about 23a but it did make me smile.

Fastidious and precise - a Killer Queen of a crossword. I especially enjoyed that so many clues were succinct. 22d outrageously good. The gender-specificity of 5d worries me slightly, as it seems irrelevant to both clue and solution, and perhaps misleading rather than misdirecting (if those two imposters are, in fact, not just the same!). Overall, very good indeed.

Very enjoyable puzzle, sirdakka. 23a is a delight, imo. I snorted at 22d and 17a probably rounds off my absolute favourites, but there's so much to like in here. SPOILERS below.

Splendid job, sirdakka. If going to Thailand is what's needed to stimulate the production of a pleasure like this, you'd better get yourself a frequent traveller card and go there regularly. Very creative from top to bottom. There's very little undeserving of a tick but if I identify my top faves, they include: 11a, 23a, 6d, 21d, 22d and 24d. Super job; don't make us wait this long for another. Thanks. PM

Thanks sirdakka, this was a lovely Saturday night/Sunday morning workout! Lots of good surfaces, and a good mix of inventive and more traditional cluing. Particular standouts were 8A, 25A, 4D, 16D, and 24D.

Enjoyable puzzle, sirdakka. 23A is a lot of fun now that I see it, but infuriating that I couldn't see it while solving :) Worth putting in, though. A lot of your short clues are great, 10A, 2D, 26A especially.

Add me to the list of fans of this puzzle, sirdakka. I made a slow start, and then struggled to finish (NW tricky), but in between there was lots of great inventiveness and wit to enjoy. 23A is COTD for me, gettable from enumeration and one or two crossers, closely followed by 22D. I agree with the need for “somewhere” in 7A, and don’t have a problem with “she” in 5D as there’s no perfect answer to that pronoun problem. Also really like the gettable way you clued the more obscure 22A and 12A.

As a miserable Ximenean I surprised myself by not having any issues at all with the playful chances taken with a few clues. I actually thought 23a was superb, and the liberty was definitely worth the pay-off. The only very slight, easily fixable fault was the already mentioned 7a, and also 24a which arguably needs a similar tweak to define the noun, ie flower *that's* opened. So many fine clues in an excellent puzzle - the aforementioned 23a, plus 17a, 20a, 25a, 6d & 18d were my favourites.

Great stuff sirdakka. Not much to add to other comments but I found it very tightly clued and extremely enjoyable. I very much like 23a and other favourites were 10a, 17a, 19d and 22d.

I struggled a bit with this, but that's due to my ability rather than any fault of yours. I think your very succinct clueing was part of my problem and that is meant as a positive comment. I share reservations with Umpire about "in Asia" with 7a. As far as 5d goes, I don't care whether it's he or she. Either will do. Surprised that I couldn't find 12a in Chambers (2014) but it's obviously OK. Really liked 23a, 25a, 9d and 19d. Thanks for a great challenge.