Cryptic crossword No 723

Thanks Lamppost - that was quite a challenge, the RHS in particular! Thankfully crossers on the left made the theme clear, at least - though I've never heard of one of the themers, and there was a fair amount of other obscure solutions and references - my Chambers app and Google were both working hard! But fair clues for such as 11a, 14a, 23a & 7d (perhaps my favourite of these). Other favourites included 1a, 9a, 13a, 24a, 25a, 3d & 19d. Spoilers follow ...

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Thanks Lamppost, I greatly enjoyed what I could solve and was impressed by the gridfill and your creative clueing with reveals and annotations - I love the grid shape and your poignantly succinct clueing style. I particularly liked 1a (cunning construction), 9a (neat), 12a (nho Jess, but a very neat surface), 18a (great fun), 21a (likewise), 22a (top surface construction), 24a (very neat) and 19d (neat) - nicely done!