Cryptic crossword No 343

Welcome to mycrossword Twmbarlwm, An enjoyable solve, with smooth surfaces and witty word play. Particularly liked 9A, 11A, 17A, 3D, 13D, 25D. SPOILERS in reply

Good to see you hear Twmbarlwm and thanks for a fun puzzle! Lots to like, particularly: 9A (I agree with you re capitalising); 12A, 2D, 3D, 6D, 12D, and18D. Like Blah I struggled with 5D, and I also can't parse 4d or 8D, and suspect I'm missing something in 16D too. I'm sure these all simply betray my solving inadequacies! Spoliers in reply. Will look forward to your next one.

Lots to like in this Twmbarlwm with favourites including 11a, 15a, 17a, 3d, 16d, 18d and 20d. Favourite probably 9a (though 15a is close behind). Plenty of nice succinct clues in here and some good surfaces too. SPOILERS IN REPLY.

Thanks Twmbarlwm, I very much enjoyed this, there being lots of inventive clues and a good variation in difficulty. The clues I found trickiest have been mentioned below, but all fair I think. Favourites were 1a, 9a (super surface), 26a, 3d, 6d, 16d and 23d.

There's a clue in today's Guardian by Philistine (23rd Feb) that you might appreciate!

Nice one, Twmbarlwm, very accomplished all round, with some lovely well-polished surfaces and clever wordplay. Took me a few goes to finish it though - it's a hard one! To pick some favourites: 9a, 15a, 5d, 6d, 13d, 16d. Some fairly complex clues took working backwards from the solution to unravel, but I think I've deciphered everything satisfactorily, except for one small detail - spoiler in reply...