Cryptic crossword No 4,156

I ended up pattern matching a few but managed to complete all but entry revealing one letter. I was beaten by 11a and I guessed at 17a but the parsing eluded me. 21d was a new word. Favourites were 10a, 14a–brilliant disguise of the seam, 19a, 23a, 3d, 18d and 20d–I "ha"ed out loud when the penny dropped. Very enjoyable, thanks Pecabite.

Very good! More tricky than moderate for me. Particularly liked 10a, 14a, 19a, 23a, 18d and 20d (v clever!). 17a is good too though not sure about "down" as an anagram indicator (the Guardian seems to allow a lot of stuff that the MyC police would never allow!) - will be interested to learn what others make of it. 11a felt a bit clunky for my taste. Haven't counted but anagram tally must be pretty high? Thanks pecabite.

Maybe you and me both think we’re easier to figure out than we are! For me this was definitely tricky, though well worth the effort. Loadsa ticks: 10a, 14a (exceptional, even with ‘air’ surviving intact), 19a, 4d, 7d, 16d, 18d and 20d (v clever 🤣). 13a slightly underwhelming, 17a vaguely unsettling but robustly defended, 3d presumably a Matrix ref but no pointers for that, and beaten by 21a.