Independent 9,181 / Phi

F<l>AKE (=unreliable person); “left (=L) out” means letter “l” is dropped

WE (=our team, as opposed to you, they) in *(OUR HOPES); “dashed” is anagram indicator

Cryptically, the champions are the “top side” in the league

AN in TITIA<n> (=artist; “endlessly” means last letter dropped); Titania is the Fairy Queen is Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream

E (=energy) in LECH (=lewd fellow); “leech” is an old word for “physician”, hence “old doctor”

NUF (FUN=frivolity; “hold back” indicates reversal) in [G<od> (“foremost” means first letter only) + ELECT (=chosen)]

MUSH (=sentimentality) + [ME (=the writer) in ROOD (=cross)]

I + S<a>LE (=demand, i.e. volume of selling; “to avoid a” means letter “a” is dropped)

T (=tense, in grammar) + RAP (=discussion, informal talk, chat)

INT. (=interest) + OX (=steer) + I CAN’T (=I am not allowed)

BASEME<n>T (=lowest level, in building; “name (=N) withheld” means letter “n” dropped) + AL (=aluminium); aluminium is a base metal

R (=right) in GEEK (=techie); “It’s all Greek to me” is a way of saying that one hasn’t understood something, hence it is an “example of impenetrable lingo”

LET (=allowed, permitted) + TERS<e> (=brief, short; “cut” indicates last letter dropped); cf. a man of letters

EPIC (=big film) + EN<d>E<d> (=concluded; “without dates (=D, D)” means 2 x letter “d” dropped); “epicene” means “common to both sexes”

CHIL<le>D (=relaxed, as in chill out; “though excluding the French (=le, i.e. the in French)” means the letters “le” are dropped) + homophone (“we hear”) of “berth” (=place)

The wordplay alone offers two ways of arriving at the solution: NUTS (=idiots; “backing” indicates reversal) AND STUN<t> (=prank; “most of” means last letter dropped)

FAT (=obese) + AL<l> (=entirely; “almost” means last letter dropped)

E (=earth) in *(SPARK WELLS); “novel” is anagram indicator; in astronomy, Kepler’s laws are three laws of planetary motion, devised by German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

OVER (=completed, down) + [R (=Queen, i.e. regina) in GOWN (=dress)]

<b>EATEN (=down, defeated); “not at first” means first letter dropped

HI (=greeting) + TOFF (=upper class type)

R (=King, i.e. rex) in UN (=article in Le Monde, i.e. the French for one, the indefinite article)

[CT (=court, in addresses) + MEN (=workers)] in *(NEAT); “varying” is anagram indicator

D.I. (=policeman, i.e. Detective Inspector) + THER<e> (=present, in attendance; “not entirely” means last letter dropped)

*(EVEN + S + M + LENT + A<udacity>); “touch of” means first letter only; “in play” is anagram indicator

*(MICE BLOAT); “suffering” is anagram indicator

[LIE (=story, fib) in L<ondo>N (“confines of” means first and last letter only)] in EMOT (TOME=book; “revolutionary” indicates reversal)

RID-ING (=travelling on bus); “cycling” here suggests that the last three letters switch places with the first three

IMP (=mischief, i.e. a mischievous person) + END (=stop)

Hidden (“part of”) in “AugusT IS RIght”; Tisri is the first month of the civil calendar, usually part of September and October, hence not part of August!

“klein” is the German word for “small, minor”, hence “of little importance in Germany”; the reference is to German mathematician Felix Klein (1849-1925)

<jan>U<ary> (“middle of” means middle letter only) in TI (IT; “turns up” indicates vertical reversal); a tui is a New Zealand honey guide, the parson-bird