Independent 8,718 / Scorpion

IN (at home) in OVERT (=open; “when retired” indicates reversal); the capital “o” in “Open” is misleading; the reference is to US golfer Lee Trevino (1939-)

OFF (=departing) + ER (=monarch) + <sh>ER<ry> (“mean-ly” suggests what is in middle position i.e. the middle 2 letters only); “one (who) presents (something)” is an “offerer”

MOON (=satellite) + RAKER (one of groundsmen – entry at 17 – i.e. a person who rakes e.g. a lawn); Moonraker is a 1979 Bond film starring Roger Moore

P (=priest) in SOON (=shortly); the “service” in question is a dinner service, i.e. crockery and cutlery

CO- (=fellow, here used adjectivally, as in co-worker) + RFU (=rugby chief, i.e. the Rugby Football Union)

<p>E<d>A<n>T (“regularly” means alternate letters only) in DOG DOG (=couple of setters perhaps, i.e. 2 x dog)

OPEN (=tournament) + TOP (=star, i.e. leading, used adjectivally)

CHI (=character in Argos, i.e. a letter of the Greek alphabet) + homophone (“picked up”) of “cargo” (=goods); the reference is to the 1975 Broadway musical, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb

BOTTLE (=daring, i.e. nerve) + FED (=agent, of FBI); cryptically, a baby who has not been breast-fed will not have been “a consumer from Bristol”, with Bristol (City) being Cockney rhyming slang for “titty”, breast)

ROO (=jumper, i.e. kangaroo) in T<ake>N (“heartlessly”, i.e. all but first and last letters are dropped); Troon is a town in South Ayrshire, famous for its golf course, hence “Mac (=Scotsman) found here”

DO (=cook) in SOW (=pig); “around” indicates reversal

An albatross is a large seabird (“huge flyer”) and figuratively a great burden, from Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner

PART (=section) in <ey>ESO<re> (“middle of” means central letters only are used)

OUT (=unpopular) + SOLE (=single); here the reference is to an Oxford shoe, with an insole and an outsole

[MIC<k> (“briefly” means last letter dropped) + BOM (MOB=crowd; “redirected” indicates reversal)] in *(BOAT); “waving” is anagram indicator

RE (=concerning) + COURSE (=Troon – entry at 24 – for example)

*(RODI<n>); “endlessly” means last letter dropped; “sculpted” is anagram indicator; the reference is to French fashion designer Christian Dior (1905-57)

HOOKED (=driven errantly, i.e. in golf) + UP (=in court)

<ac>TO<rs> <ov>ER<do> <tr>AG<ic>; “essentially” means the middle letters only of each word are used

Hidden (“some”) and vertically reversed (“erected”) in “memberS OF University”

ARNO (=river, in Florence) + L<ifte>D (“drained” means all but first and last letters are dropped); perhaps Scorpion had US golfer Arnold Palmer in mind when setting this clue?

<a>IR<c>ON; “to remove a<wful> c<lamminess> primarily”, i.e. first letters, means letters “a” and “c” are dropped

UN (=a French, i.e. the French word for a) + T (=tenor) + IL (=49, in Roman numerals)

L<atvia> (“number one” means first letter only) in [A + TIT (=singer, i.e. a bird)]

GROUND (=crushed, from grind) + [ME (=this person) + S N (=poles)]

ODE B (=second poem, as opposed to “ode A”, the first poem) in COOK (=Fry); again, the capital “f” in “Fry” is intended to mislead

AMOR (ROMA=Italian city; “turned” indicates reversal) + OS OS (=two mouths together, i.e. 2 x os=mouth-like opening)

TROU<t> (=swimmer; “has no time (=T)” means letter “t” dropped) + PE (=training)

FLAG (=what’s seen on green, in golf) + ON (=drinking, as in I’m on gin tonight, not whisky)

WREN<ch> (=yank, i.e. pull, not American); “leaves clubhouse (=CH)” appears to mean that letters “ch” are dropped

S<hiner> (“initially” means first letter only) + ORE (=tender when in Norway, i.e. Norwegian currency)

TOT (=child) + <hous>E (“back to” means last letter only)