Cryptic crossword No 1,342

My first cryptic. (I'm aware of the issue with the unches.) Many thanks to dragonengineer97, edderiofer, Phil"The"Hat, and ROYJohnson490 on Twitch for test-solves, feedback and tweaks. Annotations will be added in the very near future.

Thanks ThymePass and congrats on your first! The less said about the grid the better 😜 but you already know that ... some cracking clues though. My faves were 7a, 10a, 14a, 21a & 2d (both well clued, though both a bit obscure), 3d (my top pick), 8d, 13d, 22d (cunning), & 28d (slightly odd surface but nice idea). Spoilers ...

Welcome, ThymePass. I agree with Fez that there are some excellent clues in here; my favourites were 12a, 14a, 23a, 29a, 3d, 8d, 9d, 15d, 22d, 25d, and I note that only four of those were on Fez's list. The grid, as you appreciate, is an abomination, leaving eight unches in a thirteen-letter word that's obscurely clued to start with. Might I suggest you look at the freeware version of Crossword Compiler (if you get hooked, some features in the paid-for version are amazing). Spoilers in reply