Cryptic crossword No 2,261

Love it Henri! The construction is the star, and its creator of course. See spoilery reply for more.

Great stuff, thanks Henri ... love how the SI played out :-) 4a probably my fave but as Coot mentions the construction is the star. And ...

By the way - a bonus point for deciphering the image reference 😆

Absolutely brilliant, and congratulations!

Ha! Brilliantly constructed. Enjoyable to solve straight, then the SI added a very entertaining endgame. Bravo!

wow. hats off!

Bloody hell! I have no idea how you go about setting something like this. Impressive!

Thanks Henri for a superbly clever crossword. I like secret messages but yours was OTT without resorting to a plethora of odd words. My favourite clues included 8a, 11a, 20a (I like clues that include 'Brian'), 22a, 4d (my LOI), and 25d. Despite good clues, however, this puzzle really exemplifies 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts'.

Terrific work, as per, Henri - I wish I'd had this idea, although I wouldn't have done it justice in the way you have! Nothing else that I can say will add to the praise that's already rightfully been dished out, so I'll just stick with a hearty "congratulations"!

Thanks Henri, great fun. A lot of fantastic surfaces, I spent 5 minutes looking at 27a! FOI 1a LOI 21d, Favs 4a, 24a, 27a, 4d.

My customary apologies for getting to this late, Henri. A busy weekend. Worth the wait, though. Many congratulations on your milestone, marked with a suitably clever conceit which I very much enjoyed. Some nice cluing but, as others have observed, the grid's the star. Well done indeed. Thanks. PM

Hey Henri - what an absolute joy! Can't even begin to understand how you architected this. I loved the clues and the layers on top. I recorded my solve of this last night and it's live on the channel now. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/Taj7c-6--Qg

Amazing. Thanks for sharing this with @Foylesider (The Cryptic Mystic)!

Henri, thanks again for talking with me about this special puzzle and much more! Our chat is now available here: https://youtu.be/eJtDxbuC1Fo?si=IjNE56RefjRBCZld 🧩