Cryptic crossword No 3,819

Wow Primus, you’re on form today! Beaten by 9a and 15d, though admired them on reveal. And really enjoyed 1a, 10a, 14a (how have I missed getting these nits before! ), 23a (nice def), 3d (clever), 4d, 8d (excellent synonyms) and 12d. Thank you! Oh, and 18a was on the podium too.

Thanks Primus for a top notch puzzle. I felt quite smug when I completed it, albeit with a few guesses and partially parsed clues. 18a was my COTD with appreciation of all. I needed your notes to explain 7d and 2d.

Hi Primus sorry it took me a while to get to this grid - I've had a queue of stuff to do. What a great puzzle - have no quibbles whatsoever. It took me quite a while dipping in an out today at work - I got through it eventually - quite of lot I had to reverse engineer but I'm used to that anyway - some of the parsings took me a while to figure out - I print out and do the grids on paper otherwise I'd get impatient and cheat! - a couple were very rewarding when I worked out how they click in