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In Brendan's absence, reluctantly starting a thread before going to bed...

Thanks to Picaroon for setting an absolute blinder! Finished it pretty quickly, but a delight all the way through. My running list of "good clues" / "COD candidates" had 16 (out of a possible 30)!

FOI 6. Co-LOI 19 and 27, which held me up longest and I saw at approximately the same time.
Embarrassment of riches in the COD department, but 25 is the clear winner. Too many other good ones to mention.

Not sure of parsing for 12, though I have a plausible solution.

Google was required to confirm solutions to 10 and 1a, though solutions clear from wordplay.

I'll rank the puzzle as slightly above the norm in difficulty, but enjoyment took priority.

I think 12 is 1+1+5, the last being a slang word that I'm probably too old to use. 27 was my LOI, and I'm still not sure of the parsing though I'm sure it will be obvious in the morning. I'm impressed that you got 19 - I would guess not commonly used in the US.

Thanks, rainman. I'm sure your parsing of 12 is correct. Google verifies a slang term unknown to me.

17 parses as (3 inside 5) followed by 4.

Apologies, meant 27 rather than 17.

Thanks, geeker. I guess the word 'guy' is colloquial enough to justify the 5-letter version. I was also thrown off by the anagrind being after the envelope indicator - a bit too sneaky for me. In the end, this was fun as you say, although I nearly gave up when my first scan yielded nothing.

I see it now. I was getting my anagrinds mixed up, so the clue makes perfect sense - not sneaky at all.

Sorry Picaroon (normally in my top 3 setters), I'm putting this aside only about a third done. I've quibbles over half of the clues I've done, but the last straw was the misspelling in 17d.

I suppose Picaroon would argue that the "Anglo" justifies it, but it's still a mistake, similar to ordering "a panini".

Fair point Chris. Chambers gives the grid spelling before the other one as alternatives, Collins has them the other way round, Oxford only the non-grid spelling!

Though this was tricky in parts. My COD would be 27a.

I didn’t find this particularly easy and tbh I thought there were too many uses of similar devices (indications of the use of only part of a word seemed everywhere). I am also SO GLAD that the explanation of the parsing of 27 given on this forum meant it wasn’t the way my clearly Pauline mind had gone!