Cryptic crossword No 555

Hi Henri, thanks for the puzzle! I've not tried your first (welcome to MyC by the way!) but this was great fun, and you've created some lovely clues here. I particularly liked 9a (a rather neat construction), 11a (nice surface but not 100% the def works), 18a (I thought this clue fun and clever), 1d (efficiently misleading clue), 4d (amusing surface and solid construction), 5d (held me up for a minute, a nice example of the type), 13d (efficient construction), 26d (tricky based on my limited...

Lots to like in this, Henri, and pleased to hear you've caught the bug (possibly an inappropriate phrase, these days!). You said you'd had lots of ideas and some are on show here. Favourites include: 9a, 12a, 22a, 25a (very nice), 4d, 5d (very good), 13d, 16d, 21d, 23d (neat). Couple of spoilers in Reply. Thanks. PM