Cryptic #20

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Last puzzle of 2023. I started off intending to make this a midi but quickly it turned into a full-size grid. 1A's clue was fun to come up with and I hope it will click with solvers. I struggled with 14D for a while, but I like what I came up with for a surface, and in any event it's an entry that has a lot of personal meaning to me. 

It's been a year with lots of creative highs and lows in cryptic construction for me. At times I've felt like I've really come a long way with my clue composition skills; other times I feel like I can't write a clue to save my life. Balancing lively fill with clueable fill also continues to be something of a guessing game, though I think my personal philosophy generally remains on the side of taking the liveliest fill I can get and the clues will figure themselves out eventually. 

Enjoy the puzzle! And thanks again for checking out my work. Happy holidays to those of you celebrating, and I hope everyone gets some good R&R in the weeks ahead.