Cryptic crossword No 2,219

Very nice, I don't know how I missed the theme when in retrospect it was so blindingly obvious! Faves 4d, 6a, 17a, 32a, 33a, 6d, 8d (though I parsed it differently), 30d

Thanks Henri. I was surprised that this was gentle enough that I finished with only a couple of reveals. A few nhos for me, notably 2d & 18a but in the main wp was clear enough to get me there. Particularly enjoyed 9a, 27a, 33a, 7d, 28d among others. I didn't spot a theme either, but will check annotations to see what I missed. Thanks again for an enjoyable Saturday distraction!

Thanks Henri for another splendid crossword. I had many favourites as usual including 6a, 9a, 32a, 33a, 3d, 7d, 20d, and 24d. I needed your notes to understand 13a, 17a, 22a, and 25a. More in reply.

Very much enjoyed this Henri, thanks. Lots of amusing surfaces. Spotted a couple of threads but failed to join them up! Favourites: 11a, 16a, 23a, 1d, 4d, 14d, 19d and 26d. I liked 13a too - if I had been clueing it, I suspect I wouldn’t have been able to resist omitting the apostrophe-s!

Lovely job, Henri. The theme - which has been mentioned - is unknown to me so was neither spotted nor useful! However, the grid all solved nicely and there were plenty of lovely clues. Faves inc. 6a for the combo of devices, 13a for the surface, 23a - very smooth and misleading - best amongst the crosses, 29a which delayed me for a while with nice misdirection, 33a - lovely spot, 1d which is very smooth, 4d and 7d which are very elegant and 14d which is amusing. Thanks. PM

Very nice, thanks Henri. Enjoyed the theme in hindsight, as is often the case 🙂. Favourite clues were 1a, 22a, 1d, 7d, 14d (great surface) and 26d.

Great stuff, Henri! 6a was so good! I have a YouTube channel called The Cryptic Mystic (1200 subs)(http://www.youtube.com/@The_Cryptic_Mystic) with the aim of demystifying cryptics and helping beginners discover the joy of solving them. I post walkthrough videos of me solving cryptics and explaining my thinking and the wordplay. Would you have any objections to me featuring your puzzles in this way? I think my subscribers would love them. I'd include links back to you here. Thanks, Martin

I'm attempting your back catalogue -- with partial success. My favourites of the ones I cracked were 6d, 15d and 14a - I just love it when I finally see how the small pieces that snap together are derived. And 33a just made me laugh it was so absurd. The theme mostly passed me by, but I was happy to meet the great man himself. ETA I meant 17a not 14, i was very tickled to see what you were up to there!