Cryptic crossword No 3,944

Thanks, Mylo, and welcome to MyC. I really enjoyed that and the theme was right up my street. If that was your first crossword, I'm very impressed! I particularly liked 8a, 10a, (COTD!) 12a, 28a, 9d (RIP Frank) and 22d. I've got a few observations in the reply if you're interested...

I haven't tried to solve this but you have some good comments from Orinoco. I probably wouldn't attempt this puzzle because of the grid. As you're apparently new to this it's worth reading 'The Art of Crossword', in which the first principle of grid construction is that, in the interests of fairness, no word should have less than half its letters checked. Your grid has 6 words with less than half their letters checked.

Also, I've learned that, again in the interests of fairness, a 15x15 grid should have no more than 8 unchecked initial letters. (Obviously, words are easier to get if you know the first letter.) Your grid has 17 unchecked initials. So, without considering the clues, I know this isn't going to be easy and, given the proliferation of puzzles here, that's enough to make me look elsewhere for something to solve. I hope this is helpful.

Hi Milo, I thought this was a great debut puzzle. You’ve obviously earned your wings elsewhere and developed quite a sophisticated clueing style including various multiple step manoeuvres. Well done with the theme which seemed generally accessible to ‘non-specialists’. I particularly liked 10a (neat), 23a, 1d and 17d. You should find lots of ongoing support and encouragement on this site, including suggestions that may help hone your skills. A couple of these from me below…

Thanks Mylo, great debut grid with an enjoyable theme, faves include 12a, 14a, 9d and 13d, cheers 🕷️