Cryptic crossword No 1,072

Welcome Mulhacen and congratulations on putting yourself out there! This is a great, safe place to get feedback on your puzzles, which is all provided in a most constructive spirit. A very promising debut puzzle, I thought, with lots of good ideas and efficient clueing. My favourites were: 1A, 4A, 12A, 25A, 7D and 30D. Spoilers...

Thanks Mulhacen, a fun solve ... did I detect a natural world / environmental issues "undercurrent" (if not quite full "theme")? Anyway, Coot has provided plenty of helpful feedback - the grid design being the main issue here, but some cryptic grammar too - so just a list of favourites: 1a, 12a, 18a, 23a, 25a, 7d, 8d (nho but clearly clued ... and with helpful crossers!), 16d, 24d, 27d & 30d. Thanks again!

Hello, welcome and thanks, Mulhacen. I enjoyed solving this as a similar MyC newbie (and one also with grid issues on my first). Some really nice clueing here, and a top five for me would be 26A, 7D, 8D, 16D and 30D. I'd just say soak up all the constructive feedback – there's gold dust in there – and I look forward to seeing your future ones. Cheers from Pixie.

Thank you for such a lovely welcome to the site. Great to have such a friendly response to my first puzzle. Very encouraging. Cheers everyone!

Welcome to MyCrossword, Mulhacen and congratulations on your debut puzzle. I recall pressing Publish on my first and the nerves that accompanied it. Coots has picked up on some things; in the spirit of constructive criticism, I'll add one more in the reply. Plenty of decent clues in here and, as others have said, you have ideas. The techniques and the feel for what will work, what might not and what is verboten will come with time. Thanks. PM

Thanks for the puzzle, Mulhacen, and welcome to MyC! You've already got some excellent advice so I'll restrict myself to a list of likes, with my particular favourites being 1a (neat and smooth surface), 4d (likewise), 12a (neat), 18a (neat), 25a (neat), 6d (nice charade, nho first bit but I'm stealing it!), 8d (nho def but nice), 12d (neat), 16d (neat) and 31d (smooth) - keep 'em coming!