Cryptic crossword No 429

Hi ozof. About time someone commented on this! I completed it late last night and was a tad too tired to make notes. Not the fault of the puzzle! (Although I don't think the Annotations were up then (?) so I couldn't check a few things. Some very nice clueing in here; it was hard, chewy at times but most of it (!) fair. Some very big ticks including 1a, 4a, 9a, 10a, 2d, 3d, 5d, 20d and 23d. Couple of spoilers/queries in Reply.

Excellent crossword, ozof - pretty tough but enjoyable. Favourites were 1a, 12a 21a, 15a, 2d, 3d, 20d, 23d. There were a few I really struggled to parse, thanks to some pretty complex wordplay (eg 17a), but I think they’re all fair enough, more or less.