A better grid than the last couple – all entries at least 50% checked, and no isolated areas of the grid. I got through most of this pretty easily, but struggled with the NE corner, where 4, 5, 9 and the last word of 6 took longer than the rest put together.
Today’s Toughie is one of the easier ones, which means it’s a good one to start if you haven’t tried them before. My two star difficulty rating would put it at about three stars for a regular daily cryptic.
[OK BigBoab, there are one or two tricky words, but then you finish this puzzle wiser than when you started!]