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16a Knocked back, this stuff's high grade wine (4)
?S?I
Asti I suppose, but why?

it's A?
not very good

ASTI
ts = this (abbr in text messaging) reversed in A1 = top grade

Thanks, wasn't aware that 'this' could be abbreviated to 'ts'.

I think Chris’s parse is more likely. There’s no support for ts=this in Collins and the apostrophe in “stuff’s “ doesn’t work if we are meant to take “stuffs” as an insertion indicator.

Yes, I see what you mean about the comma. Chrise's solution is the correct one.

By the way, Jono, as you're there and seem very knowledgeable about all this, I need a book of cryptic crosswords. The Times series are all sold out on line. Would the Telegraph be a reasonable substitute as regards complexity?

Hi Geting, yes I would think they are broadly equivalent in terms of level, though I’m no expert on the DT. They are blogged on Big Dave’s site and have a strong following.

You may have seen Whetstone’s thread “Times Cryptics… PREVIOUS PUZZLES”. In fact he moved on from the Times to the Telegraph a while ago so all the recent posts relate to Telegraph clues, though it’s hard to see any difference.

Many thanks Jono

Comparing DT cryptic with The Times, one rule observed by the latter is not allowing more closed letters than open ones in a solution. I am not keen on the DT's frequent ?-?-? for five-letter words.

Quibbles like this have made me a Times disciple even though my parents brought me up on the DT. I also like the Times rule of not allowing living people as a solution, but perhaps the DT observes this too?

Thanks for your observations Paul. The Times is my preferred choice but as I mention below their online stock of cryptics seems to have sold out during the pandemic years