Cryptic crossword No 654

The numeration for 19a should be (2,7). Apologies.

Hi Conto, have you got the annotated solutions? Cheers.

Well that was a welcome distraction on a boring late night train journey, thanks! It started off deceptively steady then about two-thirds of the way through it got significantly tougher. But I dragged it over the line, despite missing some parsings til I saw your notes. Particularly liked 14a, 3d, 17d and 24d. Cheeky spoiler comment in Reply!

Thanks Conto (sorry been a while to get round to commenting). Very tough, I thought, but very enjoyable; favourites include 23a, 26a (though surely there's a more up-to-date reference? Sorry Cheryl!), 6d (for the chutzpah), & 15d (for the doubly-necessary "London"). Spoilers follow ...

Thanks Conto, not sure if I solved this at the time but it didn't jog my memory, so perhaps not! This was tough but entirely fair, and lots I greatly enjoyed. Favourites included 29a 14d, 11a, 3d, and my LOI 19a.

Hi Conto and sorry to be so very late in finishing this; it's been half open in a window on my browser for days! I very much liked the countdown - very cleverly done. Favourite clues in amongst a wealth of quality were 11a, 14a, 29a, 1d, 17d and 25d. Thanks. PM