Independent 11,423 / Atrica

COL (=officer, i.e. colonel) + UM (=I’ll soon remember, said as one racks one’s brain) + N (=name); in architecture, a column is an upright (structure), pillar

CHOR<e> (=task; “endless” means last letter is dropped) + ALLY (=band together, become allies)

WOMB (=where life started in the first place); “three steps back” means that the letter “t” is three places back in the alphabet from the letter “w”

Double definition: a floor is a level, storey AND to floor is to puzzle, bamboozle someone

Double definition: in colloquial English, a bomb is a lot of money AND a bomb is a turkey, a flop, a failure (of film, play)

[S<ervants> (“originally” means first letter only) + WERE] in AND

*(GEN<e>SIS); “rejecting the middle ground” means that the middle letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “from”

Homophone (“sounds like”) of “I’ll (=I’m going to)”

U (=uniform, in radio telecommunications) in COPS (=police)

<s>K<i>N <h>E<r>E; “occasionally” means alternate letters only are used; & lit.

AES (SEA=(the) drink, “knocking back” indicates reversal) in CAR (=limousine?)

NOR (=and not) in HOARY (=old, grey)

ERN<i>E (=Wise, perhaps, i.e. British comedian from the duo Morecambe and Wise); “to ignore first person (=I, in grammar)” means letter “i” is dropped

M (=Mike, in radio telecommunications) + <d>I<sf>A<v>OU<rs> (“all the vowels in” means vowels only are used); a Persian is a type of cat!

WRIT<ten> (=drafted; “with missing figure (=ten)” means letters “ten” are dropped)

RENÉ (=perhaps Descartes, i.e. French philosopher) + G<l>UED (=stuck; “without line (=L)” means letter “l” is dropped)

Homophone of “horse (“neigh”-sayer, itself a homophone of “naysayer”!!)”

*(CLOG NOSE); “unfortunately” is the anagram indicator

NUMB<er> (=count; “monarch (=ER, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) abandons“ means letters “er” are dropped)

“use-less” means that letters are dropped; “turned up” indicates vertical reversal; “after I let down” means that letter “i” falls to a lower place in the word

H (=husband) in ECO (=green, i.e. ecological)

MO (=short duration, i.e. moment) OR (=choose between) AGES (=long duration)

J (=judge) + <l>AWBREAKER (=criminal; “after first sign (=initial letter) of larceny” means that letter “l” is disregarded)

<s>L<a>I<n> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) + M<ohammed> B<in> S<alman> (“initially” means first letters only are used)

*(<gov>E + WHO’S NEVER); “end of” means last letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “compromised”

DO (=party, function) + UGH (=that disgusts me)

CR<iminal>; “leading pair of” means first two letters only are used, i.e. the chemical symbol for

Hidden (“insiders”) in “hEAR LIES Trumpeted”

A + ERIE (=lake, in North America)

NAUGHT<y> (=misbehaving, of child); “briefly” means last letter is dropped

A + ID (=set of uncoordinated instincts, in psychoanalysis) + <europ>E (“finish” means last letter is dropped); Dominic Cummings was an aide to former UK PM Boris Johnson

R (=rector) in WAP (PAW=hand; “raised” indicates vertical reversal)