Cryptic crossword No 2,648

Nina was NHO, so not much aid, but a fun solve overall. Faves include 7a,14a,15a, 20a and 5d,10d and 17d

Hi Gennaro, this was a bit tougher than your usual. I particularly appreciated 7a, 9a, 15a, 13d, 14d, 21d, 22d among others. Some NHOs held me up (1d, 18a (but guessable), 25a (should have known that one!)). Some clever wordplay and surfaces in there. I get the nina, but was slowed down by the variant of TSE's wording (although maybe I'm not sufficiently familiar with the original?). Anyway, good to have another from you - I'd better get to work...

Thanks Gennaro, that was great, and at pretty much the sweet spot level of difficulty for me - challenging but not too chewy. I had a genuine LOL at the surface of 9a, and 13d was tremendous as well. I also enjoyed 14a and 10d. A couple of spoilers/observations in the reply.

I love 9a, especially because Kesey could just as easily be a jester-like (stockinged) stoner as well-stocked one. Like Kate, the SI’s idiom was new to me and didn’t fall right in; so a Gennaro with a tough SI and, as per, non-ID’d defs makes for a satisfying challenge. List of other favs coming later, thanks again.

Haha, put me down as another that didn’t know the idiom 😆 but the puzzle was a nice steady solve anyway, for the most part, just a handful of chewy holdouts at the end. Liked 8a, 9a, 12a (great indicator!), 13d and 21d. Minor ticking off in the reply! 😆