Cryptic crossword No 2,661

Well done on your first attempt, a good mix of clues with some nice surfaces. My favourite clue was 4d. Thanks

Hi, RedSetter, and welcome. I'm very much a novice myself both at setting and solving but I thought some of these were very good, especially 9a, 3d, 4d. I have a few observations in the reply:

Congratulations on your debut, RedSetter, I like 9a and 4d when solving this. More in reply:

Thanks RedSetter, congrats on the debut puzzle and welcome to the site! Some nice clues here, my particular favourites were 9a, 18a and 17d (though by convention it's better to use present tense for those links, so becomes/becoming preferable - either way the surface made me smile 🙂).

What Feline and Orinico said! I'd also add that charades are probably the most commonly used device in any cryptic, Don't avoid them but try combining them with partial anagrams, reversals and insertions or deletions to keep them interesting. Probably 50% of most puzzles are a charade of some stripe.

Welcome and congratulations! I had fun with this, faves included 9a,18a (delicious surface),25a and 1d,4d,8d (very clever!)

Thanks RedSetter & congrats on your debut. You've received a lot of useful feedback already; I'll add a few pointers -- try to keep anagrams to 5, maybe 6 at the most; partial anagrams count partially. Keep hiddens to 2; a third is OK if it's a reverse one. Abbreviations should have dictionary support; the Chambers Dictionary app & clueclinic.com are excellent resources. Anagram indicators that come from clueclinic com cover most of what you need. Favs were 9a, 18a, 4d, & 8d. Good luck!