Financial Times 18,432 by MONK

E.G.< (maybe, <retiring) + (SAGE (wise guy) on T (tense) + THEMES (subjects))

STEPS ON (moves against)
‘Issue’ meaning child in this context

CONE (solid object) securing SUM (whole)

Double definition

(TOXIN DATA IN)* (*aberrant)

LEAD IN (intro) before (QUOTING* (*rubbish) about E (English) + S (society))

JACK IN (ditch) + THE PULPIT (above which cloth may go)

EVER (at any time) in (A DISNEY)* (*complex)

CO2 (colourless, odourless gas) expanded

LOO (place to go) around (RE (on) + NZ (New Zealand))
A reference to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice perhaps?

[sop]ORIFIC E[legy] (section of)

OPPO (cohabitee) + (I INSTRUCT)* (*somehow)

ELECT (choose) + RA (artist)

TOSCA (opera) joining [me]N IN I[olanthe] (quartet of)

[st]ERN (rigorous, putting ST (good man, saint) down)

Max Ernst is a German artist of the Dada and Surrealist movements.

(RULES ONCE)* (*broken)

SIN (function) on AI (e.g. Claude)

Claude is one Artificial Intelligence application

Mount Sinai is biblical – the place where Moses received the ten commandments written on stone tablets

G (good) + AMI (friend, from French) catching OUR (setter’s and solvers’)

ASP (snake) with (LETHAL* (*bent) bites JUNG (psychologist))

Double definition

The second definition is self-explanatory, and the first British slang for male genitalia

STAGE* (*shifted) ahead of BOUT (fight?)

(IS NERVOUS)* (*criminal)

Australian dialect uses the word ‘souvenir’ as a verb meaning to steal something – usually something small

OVER (several deliveries, cricket) in CUP (container)

(IN + I (international) + C (clubs) + CUP (trophy))< (<being lifted)

RO[b] (nick, almost) keeps ONE (individual)

R (Republican) wearing DOWN (blue)