Cryptic crossword No 3,654

Terrific puzzle! Got 9d first and ended up solving the idiom part halfway through the solve. Faves include 12a, 14a, 15a, 4d, and 16d

In contrast to Vanilla, 9d was LOI, although I did get the Nina early enough for it to help with a few holdouts. Faves included 1a,14a,20a,25a,4d,5d,16d. Thanks for reliably starting the week off well!

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat the crowd to a Gennaro special! Usual high quality, sprinkled with mischief. Particularly appreciated 6a, 14a (!), 2d, 4d and of course 16d! By no means a pushover - 5d was nho for me, and a few solved before fully parsing wordplay but that's all part of the fun. Nina helped crack the last few. No raised eyebrows for me today. A good lunchtime diversion, so now back to work (yes, even when one is retired...)

Thanks Gennaro. That was very accessible. Despite being unfamiliar with 5d ,it was gettable from the WP. I took a while for me to parse 20a, again not being familiar with the rapper. Favourites include 8d, 7a, 19a, 16d...

Took me a while this one and I found it quite tough with a few NHO's I had to reveal (I won't embarass myself by telling you what they were!). I also learnt the abbreviation for Iceland. Some quirky surfaces, tricky yet fair constructions. Nice nina/idiom. Thanks Gennaro for another great, yet tricky start to the week.

Thanks, Gennaro. I too found this tricky and satisfying simultaneously, with the NW the last quadrant to fall. The idiom helped midway, with 7a, 12a, 15a, 19a, and 8d some favs. Thanks again.

Late getting up the hill today but lots to appreciate as ever with one of yours- not least the fact that you have come up with yet another idiom with the right number of letters! How many are there in the world? I learned a new word in 3d after struggling fruitlessly to find a 3-letter synonym for ‘tag’, assuming I’d got the ‘metal’ bit sorted. 5d was also new but gettable. In addition I particularly enjoyed 7a, 12a, 19a, 20a and 1d with its clever surface. Thanks Gennaro!

Very nice Gennaro, thanks. I got 9d and the surrounding idiom early on this time, which helped. Favourites: 12a, 19a, 4d and 16d.

Another solid one, Gennaro. I came to 9d later having not got it on first glance and I already had the nina by the time I returned to it. 7a, 8d, 9d and 16d my pick of the bunch. Thanks. PM