Cryptic crossword No 3,781

Thanks Shorty, this was the first of yours I’ve tried - not surprisingly as I wasn’t born here in MyC when your comet last appeared! Honoured to greet your return and very impressed by the display- lots of sparkle in the surfaces and cryptic concentrate in the innards. Faves included 1a, 5a, 9a, 24a, 25a, 15d, & 22d. Nothing too challenging but I really enjoyed it!

Thanks Shorty, particularly enjoyed 1a, 9a, 2d, 5d. Spoilers ...

Thanks, Shorty. Really enjoyed this, including but not limited to 9a, 10a, the smiles from 13a & 17a, 24a, 25a; 5d, 6d, 7d, and 12d. Very nice to see a Shorty puzzle again!

Thanks Shorty. I watched and enjoyed this on Cryptic Sunday, where it was well received. 5a, 9a, 26a, 15d floated my boat!

Thanks for that Shorty, it was right in my comfort zone. Loved 1a 9a 13a 20a (great surface to make us think of a certain other (ex) Royal!) 2d 7d and 19d. I had the same quibble as Fez re 14a but not much else.

Thanks Shorty for an excellent crossword. I had many favourites including 5a, 13a, 2d (new word for me), 5d, 7d, 12d, and 21d. I needed a word finder for 23a and I couldn't parse 16d but all else slipped into place nicely.

Marvellous to do a puzzle by you again, even though your tricksy brain bested me a fair bit! Love the left field definitions, succinct , funny surfaces and punchy wordplay- a real treat, which continues in the annotations. Faves (that I got) include: 9a,17a,26a, 2d,6d, 7d,12d,22d. Many thanks and more please!

Thanks Shorty for a very enjoyable crossword. I thought there was a good mix of easy and challenging clues, all admirably done. After getting what I thought were the easier ones, I focussed on 5d which helped considerably. My favourites started with 1a and then too many others to list. My smattering of Italian helped with 8d. I'll look out for your next one.

Thanks Shorty! That was fun, with especial favourites 1a, 5a, 9a, 10a, 13a, 25a, 2d and 22d. I had to look up the parsing of 4d and 16d, kicked myself very hard re 4d then added it to the favourites list too.

Hi Shorty, I got a tip-off from tpg that this was a gem of a puzzle and so it is. Hope we might see you again after a shorter interval. Favourites were 1a, 25a, 2d, 16d & 21d. Cheers