Cryptic crossword No 609

Thanks McKay, some great stuff here. Lots to enjoy including 1a, 9a, 11a, 13a, 22a, 1d, 4d, 5d, 7d, 8d, 15d & 16d. Spoilers in reply..

What a fun puzzle McKay, well done! I really enjoyed this and it’s clear you have some lovely ideas, good humour and a devious streak in you, so I’ll look forward to your next one. Fez has already made good points on some of the technical bits, so I’ll just say I thought 1a 16a 21a 22a 26a and 1d were all lovely. Thought 4d 19a and 25a quite brilliant. Thank you!

A very enjoyable puzzle, McKay, thanks! I really liked 19A. You certainly get away with that in this forum (others have done far, far worse!). Maybe not for the Times or the Telegraph though! Other favourites: 1A (neat), 9A, 12A, 16A (as amended!), 16D and 20D.

Super puzzle, McKay, very enjoyable and with a nice level of challenge. 4d a real gem; nice to see 3d, which I relearn every time it appears in a crossword; and the long anagrams were good fun. But I have trouble parsing a couple of solutions, and would greatly appreciate seeing annotations.

Thanks McKay, a very enjoyable puzzle. I like the variety of clues and the consistent surfaces which meant the wordplay wasn't obvious but very fair - a nice level of difficulty. Favourite clues were 1a, 9a, 13a, 14a, 25a, 4d (very good) and 5d.

Hello, McKay. I missed your debut - there was a flurry and I couldn't keep up - but very much enjoyed your second outing. Lots of interesting thinking and ideas in here. You've had the benefit of comments from two fine pedants in Fez and Coot (honestly, guys, that IS meant to be a kind of compliment!) so I'll limit myself primarily to favourites: 1a (nice overall surface. very coherent), 13a (lol), 19a (works for me, if cheeky), 22a (smooth), 7d (very neat), 16d (lol) Spoilers in Reply

Nice one, McKay. As others have said, you have some interesting ideas here. Favourites for me were 12a, 7d, 16d