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Well, that was a struggle. Must say I agree with that cynical monkey (certainly this week). Some of the clues were tortuous, with terrible surfaces (21a!). Maybe Mr Connor's on his summer vacation?
I still can't fully parse 1a, 3d, 5d (as others have said), or 17a. As for 21d, I'm not even sure I've got the right answer. Can anyone help with any of these?

Apologies. Scratch that request. I now see all of them - my 1a was wrong, then I managed to parse the others. Still not impressed with any of them though. And still deeply unsure about 21d.

Hi Phil,
21d is a word for boorish with a single letter swap (those letters representing sides) to give a word for form (in a school sense).

Thanks Jono. I see it now. That's actually not a bad one, but 'wicked' in 3d is painful, and I still think 17a is the worst surface I've seen in a long time.

Apologies again ... I meant 21a. I really need to get some sleep!

It’s a bit harder these days. I can’t parse the second part of 3d and I did not know 22a. COD 23a. I liked 21a. Not convinced that 16d is actually a spoonerism.
When I struggle, the problem is usually me rather than the setter!

nicoladawn
The second part of 3d is 3,1. The 3 is "yoof slang".

I am with cynical monkey and others. Some of the 'surfaces' ( if i have the terminology correct ) are a bit clunky, 21a I think is a good example, letter clues simply dropped into the whole clue.

Not sure I have explained that so well. Struggled with SE corner.

Rev in 18d?
Bill in 22a?
Don't understand.

Anyway completed in 7 1/2 hours because I logged on last night and finished this morning. Elapsed time somewhat meaningless. How many key strokes i wonder?

Hi Yevrah, it’s rev as you might a car (3 letters), and bill as in a poster (2 letters)

Yeah it’s less about how hard it is and more about how satisfying it is.

Mild spoilers for 11a

I’m no setter and feel free to tell me I’m wrong but I just feel something like

Doctor met Carole as last to arrive

Would have been one (of many ways) to better structure 11a around the exact same wordplay as.

Meet up with Carol - she's not on time

I just don’t think “up with” was a great anagram indicator