Independent 11,874 / Eccles

SCH (=school) + I + S<tudy> M<ore> (“initially” means first letters only are used)

Hidden (“displays”) in “bEAR MARKet”; to earmark is to set aside for a particular purpose, to “reserve”

*(MALE); “cooks” is anagram indicator

PROBITY (=virtue, uprightness); “reserve of money (=fund)” for head of (=first letter) of business” means letter “b” is replaced by “fund”

[I (=one) + P (=penny)] in DOLE (=unemployment benefit); a dipole is two equal and opposite electric charges set a small distance apart from each other

TOT (=shot, dram, of liquor) + A + L (=lake, on map) + WAR (RAW=untrained; “revolutionary” indicates reversal)

CHA (=teas, as in a cup of cha) + *(MOTORS); “around” is anagram indicator

DIR<g>E (=funeral song; “not good (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped)

<wil>L<iam> (“heart of” means middle letter only) in BAB<e> (=attractive woman; “briefly” means last letter is dropped); to blab is to let out a secret, hence to “tell”!

DEA<d> (=late, deceased; “nearly” means last letter is dropped) + CONE (=ice-cream, cornet) + S<prinkle>S (“on vacation”)

<po>LI<ce> (“essentially” means middle letters only are used) in CAPERS (=crimes, legally questionable acts, colloquially)

Double definition; cf. to be in a class/league of one’s own AND Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

*(BORING + I’D I’D); “repeatedly” means that the letters appear twice in the anagram, indicated by “snarled”; the indigo bird is an American finch, hence “bunting”

<g>LOBE (=theatre, in London; “initially absent” means first letter is dropped)

Hidden (“interrupts”) in “muSK INTERrogation; broke means skint, penniless, hence “broker” and “skinter” are comparative adjectives

<sharp>EN (“last couple to” means last two letters only) + Z Y (=axes, on a graph) + ME

S (=son) + WED (=marry) + I’S (=one’s) + H (=husband)

PORT (=Hull, in N England) + O (=hole); “with a gap” indicates that “port/hole” must be split in two for the purposes of the wordplay

SUP (=drink) + *(MORE); “rum (=odd)” is anagram indicator

AC<q>UIT (=clear, exonerate, in court; “without question (=Q, as in Q&A)” means letter “q” is dropped) + <da>Y (“end of” means last letter only)

MEDALLI (I’LL=I will + AD (=notice, as in small ads) + ˈEM (=them); “returning” indicates reversal) + ON (=about, regarding)

R (=run, on cricket scorecard) + A + TRACE (=hint, touch)

“bottomless pit” could be a cryptic clue for the irrational number “pi”, where “bottomless” means the last letter is dropped from the word “pit”!

<ex>TRADITION (=foreign delivery, i.e. surrender of a national to a foreign power; “ignoring old (=ex-)” means letters “ex” are dropped

BEAT (=bobby walked round this, i.e. bobby on the beat) + homophone (“reportedly”) of “nick (=arrest)”

CE (=church, i.e. Church of England) + LAD (=boy) + ON (=working, running)

S (=small, of sizes) + TUMBLE; & lit.

E (=European) in GNOME (=banker, as in the gnomes of Zurich); a genome is the complete set of an individual’s chromosomes, a person’s full genetic make-up, hence it could be described as a “guide to life”

A in ALLY (=colleagues, supporter)