Cryptic crossword No 71

Thanks Raider! This is a fantastic crossword with many excellent clues. Some of my favourites were 9a, 12a, 15a, 22a, 26a, 2d, 13d, 14d and 17d. SPOILERS in reply...

Thanks Raider. I really enjoyed this. 16a a new word for me...

That was good fun Raider. 8a, 17d, and 22d were among my favourites, but the I particularly enjoyed working out 13d! Thank you

Thanks for this puzzle, Raider. It was good fun, and all fell fairly quickly until the SW corner, which was a bit trickier, though not in a bad way. Some of my favourite parts may not go down well with purists, but for the most part I was on board with everything here. Favourites include the wordplay in 6a, the surface of 11a, 19a (thank goodness for fish!), 21a, the unfortunate issue of 22a, the surface of 25a (I’ve met them - sometimes I AM them!), 1d/3d, 6d (LOVE that word!),...

Excellent crossword - I enjoyed it very much. Every clue is precise and grammatical but there's lots of imagination and ingenuity as well. I liked them all - but a special mention for the misdirection in 9a, 22a, 25a and 17d. Also, 13d nearly had me beaten but is a great clue - a cryptic definition that works really well.

Absolutely flawless puzzle Raider (have we come to expect this?). You should be setting for the Guardian! I had to guess at 16a and then look up (as did several others) - not heard of the word but clueing fair. I can see signs of the 'Paul'-ish naughtiness coming through, like in 21a, 1d/3d - another reason for soliciting Hugh Stephenson who won't mind. Fine by me - after all I got some stick once with my "May need to change sheets after this lunatic watered them at the end! (3,5)".

Excellent, and lovely surfaces!

Nice one - 1/3 made me laugh :-)

Thought I’d try one from the archives and this was absolutely great, Raider. The consistent combination of disguise, invention and accuracy is really impressive. Too many favourites to list but I would pick out 9A, 10A, 21A, 22A, 1D 3D, 6D, 13D and 14D. One question: in 6A, aren’t the first letters ahead of the last letters, hence doesn’t the S move forwards rather than back? Thanks for the entertainment!

I was ready to niggle about the definition for 1A as I totally missed OR. That's a genius def really well done. Definitely improved cryptic grammar from your previous two crosswords, lovely misleading surfaces but all very fair. My only quibble is 26A. SPOILER in reply