Spectator 2768: Overheads by Fire

Logic/Parsing

EL_AL (French articles, LE and LA, contrary) around (entertaining) (S)ECTOR (tranche, leaderless)

hidden word in, i.e. piece of, ‘proPAGANda’

anag, i.e. supple-ly, of GP BOSS and REP TO

hidden word in, i.e. piece of, ‘parROTEd’ – possibly &lit, as the whole clue could also be taken as the definition

SPAT (fight) + IAL (starts to ‘Intensify About Lack’)

E (European) + PIG + RAM (farm animals)

(B)AT(S) (bats, endlessly) + HO (even letters, so deleting the odds, in ‘oH bOy’ + ME (first person, singular)

ADO (kerfuffle) + RE (about)

A_E (Accident & Emergency, casualty) around CUT (wound)

alternate letters, i.e. now and then, of ‘SaTiRe EvEnTs’

[Oxford Street being an example of a street]

NO (never) + PEEK (look), all back to give KEEP ON

EA (Environment Agency) + T_IN (money) + TO

anag, i.e. sketchy, of DO A BIT with A

S_Y (fringes of SocietY) around P (introduction of Provocateur)

ERR(AND)S – assignments, losing AND, ‘and escaping’!

subtractive anagram, i.e. about, of NHS + (S)USPICION, with its initial dismissed)

PREDESTIN (anag, i.e. deranged, of PRESIDENT) + ED (odd letters of EnD)

Logic/Parsing

S (fourth letter of ‘watSons’) + LOOP (iteration)

[the sloop John B – a hit for the Beach Boys in the ’60s, but originally a Bahamian folk song from much earlier in the 1900s]

anag, i.e. may produce, of PT, ETHEL, THEA

anag, i.e. mixed together, of TAOISM + M (first, or earliest, letter of Marxism)

S (final letter of cosmoS) + ATE (devoured) + EN (space, in printing)

APP (abbreviation, or short, of approved) + LIE (story) + R (rex, king)

subtractive anagram, i.e. cheeky, of (M)EN (R)AP, without MR, ‘not Mr’

EA (essence, or middle, of drEAry) + R_ED (wine) around MARK (Book of New Testament)

double defn. – a FLOAT can be spare cash for giving change; and a FLOAT can be a drink of ice-cream floating on soda

PRO (for) + LET (hire) + ARIAN (person born in March/April under the star sign Aries)

SMART (trams, streetcars, reversed) + CASUAL (relaxed)

STREAK (race, move fast) + IE (id est, that is) + R (run, cricket notation)

AOB, ‘Any Other Business’, more to discuss at the end of a meeting, about, to give BOA

hidden word in, i.e. had by, opERAtor)

CO (company) + NFUTE (subtractive anagram, i.e. mistakenly, of F(OR)TUNE, minus OR, heraldic, gold tincture)

TR (TartaR, depleted of inner letters) + OUNCE (a little bit)

anag, i.e. confused, of IN OMAN

T (end of concerT) + ROVE (over, cycling first letter to last)

reversed hidden word, i.e. ‘some characters’ and ‘come up’, in ‘inDECIsive’