Cryptic crossword No 1,238

Lovely puzzle, PM! Plenty of delightful surfaces; favourites include 5a, 17a, 24a, 26a, 29a, 7d, 9d, 22d and 25d. Very satisfying throughout, and plenty of things doing stuff I wouldn't normally expect, which is always fun to see!

Some excellent clues in there PM; a nice variety with some particularly neat anagrams, and I liked the rarely seen maths clue (no spoilers). Anags apart, 16a and 21d were my top two. I see your POV on 9d but I think there are acceptable alternative defns I'd have used to avoid the minor clash. Then again I wouldn't be writing a clue with 'PostMark' in it, would I? :-) A clever clue and a nice find though.

Great stuff, mostly a steady solve but the last quarter or so had me chewing the virtual pencil somewhat — but I got there in the end, some via defs and crossers, to be enlightened by your notes. All very clever stuff, especially 14a, 19a and 28a 😁

Thanks PM - can't say I didn't have to resort to a number of reveals in the end to get me through (all very judiciously clued as it transpired) but I can echo Twmbarlwm's thoughts with some really neat anagrams that helped me get stuck into the puzzle. 14A, 17A and 25D my personal favs

Good stuff PM, took a couple of visits (and a couple of reveals) to get there in the end, but some cracking clues as per... 5a the standout but 14a, 2d, 20d, and 25d also very good...

Super stuff, thanks PM. 17a my pick, alongside 27a and 9d (no complaints from me). Comments rather than quibbles below...

Thanks for the puzzle PM, I thought your surfaces here were particularly well crafted, and a delectable selection of interesting WP, with favourites being 1a (nice), 5a (great surface, smooth construction), 12a (fun surface), 14a (excellent), 17a (lovely), 19a (very clean), 27a (neat), 28a (smooth), 3d (neat) 4d (very neat), 9d (lovely), 15d (smooth), 22d (very smooth) and 25d (neat) - lovely stuff!

Bravo PM. For me this was the most accessible and fun of your puzzles I've tried. Some great anagrams (no problem with 9a for me - it's not like the) answer is 6 letters say) - and lots of well crafted clues that would grace any back page. Just a couple of queries (spoilers)...

Very good, PM, thanks. Found it pretty tricky, as per, but got there in a few visits. Lots of excellent, tight clueing as we’ve come to expect. My picks were 14a, 17a, 23a, 24a, 3d, 7d, 20d and 25d. Spoilers…

Lovely as ever :)