Cryptic crossword No 1,579

Good to see another from you Natrix. A mostly enjoyable solve, with highlights for me in 10a, 21a, 4d, 5d & 22d. The wordplay was good enough in some clues for me to solve without having any previous knowledge of the definition - e.g. 10a, 2d. In some other clues the wordplay was a bit too convoluted for me to make sense of it. I’ll get more specific in reply to avoid spoilers. There was a minor problem with enumerations in linked clues at 8a, 1d, 7d but the grid split saved confusion. More…

I enjoyed watching this being solved over on Cryptic Sunday, Natrix. Well done. 23a my fave.

Thanks Natrix. I enjoyed this. Favourites include 10a, 12a, 13a, 23a, 24a, 2d, 3d, 6d. The long edges were mostly fine, but 7/18 was a struggle with the convoluted parsing. Misparsed 15d (my fault), and found 16d very tough, even though I got the first part and I've been known to use a similar device myself. Probably a lesson for me in that!