Cryptic crossword No 545

Good to see you back Piper, feels like it's been a while. Very enjoyable, with a nice steady flow. I did need your annotations to parse a couple of the 6D names, but that's just me being a Philistine. I particularly enjoyed 8A 24A 6D, 23A, 2D, and 4D. 20A is my COTD.

Hi Piper - I echo what Blah said, good to see you back. Nicely done puzzle overall - of the theme words, only one was unfamiliar to me but it was well and fairly clued so I could solve it anyway. Favourites were 20a, 23a, 1d, 17d. A couple of spoilerish comments in reply...

Hi Piper, thanks for this puzzle. I enjoyed it very much and I usually learn a few things on the way! My favourite clues were 1d 2d 4d 5d 7a 20a and the wonderful 23a!

Hi Piper and thanks for a work of art displaying some lovely strokes, fine technique and nicely framed with the theme. I surprised myself by recognising nearly everything: 3d (LOI) was unknown along with 15d but both were gettable from the clueing. I even saw how to parse 14d so feel very pleased with myself. Favourites include: the 8d combo, 11a, 13a, 20a, 4d (lol), 14d. Thanks. PM

Great stuff, thanks Piper. Enjoyed the theme and the two unknowns (same as everyone else...) were very fairly clued. Somehow it took me ages to see 13a even though I went there fairly recently. Very nice apt anagram for the long key clue 8a 24a 6d, other favourites were 23a, 14d and 19d.

Thanks for the puzzle, Piper. A lovely integration of the theme, and learnt quite a bit along the way (source material not being my strong suit!). I particularly liked 7a for neatness, 8a 24a 6d for a decent construction, 11a evocative surface, 22a was neat, 1d a clean construction, 2d nice, 4d on the longer side but told a nice story, and 17a - well done!

Very nice Piper! The theme isn’t my strong suit so I struggled in places but that’s not to detract from a beautifully constructed puzzle with lovely clues. I particularly enjoyed 10A, 18A, 23A, 1D, 8D, 16D and 19D.