Cryptic crossword No 1,198

Welcome to MyCrossword Croup, and congratulations on your debut contribution. A good mix of difficulty in this puzzle, some items in which did defeat me. Plaudits for 12a, 16a, 21a, 2d, 18d etc. Others I got ok, but couldn’t fully parse the wordplay. I find that using the ‘explanation’ field and making annotated solutions available helps both setter and solver. Look forward to future contributions from you.

Well done on the debut, Croup. Some nice ideas - I liked 16a, 21a, 18d. To make one practical suggestion, think about the surface readings of your clues - it's best from a solver's point of view if they can create some kind of natural meaning or a convincing mental image. Some of your clues (eg 1a and 7d) work well in this respect, but you have one or two (eg 10a) that read more like a random jumble of words. But this gets easier with practice, so stick at it!