Cryptic crossword No 442

Thanks for this, Meles. Not a stroll in the park, by any means. Little seems unfair in your Annotations but it was hard to identify and order some of the elements from the clues. My bad - not thinking as clearly as I'd like. Some real big ticks (and a question or two in Reply): 11a, 24a, 25a, 26a (favourite clue), 3d (second favourite), 16d, 25d. Spoilers in Reply.

Nice one, Meles you're getting trickier for sure, but all fair, several raised eyebrows while solving, but all resolved once fully parsed. Liked 14A, 20A, 25A (devious wordplay) 7D, 10D (LOL) and 17D.

Thanks for the challenge Meles, that was nice. I needed to peak at some comments to fully appreciate the grid, but realized I'd played half of them at least, which further increased my enjoyment on the solve. Particular favourites were 9a, 15a, 20a, 25a (possibly my favourite), 26a (my other), 1d, 7d, 10d, 16d, 17d (needed a reveal and annotations to appreciate, but v. clever) and 23d - well done!

Thanks Meles - very good and extremely challenging for me, ultimately requiring a few reveals. I put that down to a combination of mediocrity (on my part!) and some pretty tricky wordplay. But nothing by way of a quibble beyond the minor points already raised. As usual, I didn't spot the theme although quite a few are familiar including 15A. Hard to pick favourites but (post reading your notes): 8A, 20A, 25A, 6D, 18D and 23D.