Independent 7125 by Morph

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def

This was a brilliant piece of work by Morph. I don’t know if the idea has been used before or not – it’s such a simple idea that it’s hard to believe no-one thought of it before, but then the best ideas are often like that. A number of the clues were homophones of countries and this was cleverly clued by the use of the word “intonation” i.e. into nation.
 

Across
7	Buddleia: bud + laid* around E.
9	All in: DD.
10	Whey: Didn’t entirely follow this one – “Skimmed milk with eggy bits removed from the middle”. Skimmed milk must be whey, but I’m not sure of the rest.
11	Intonation: DD/CD. Theme word indicating both the process of changing the other clues and what they’re changed into.
12	Grease: “To smooth the way arranges a second meeting internally”. Obviously smooth the way gives grease but not sure of the wordplay in the second part. It is a hom. of Greece for the theme.
14	Careers: Reference to clue 1 (rusher). Hom of Korea (North and South).
15	Transliterate: (Artist eternal)*.
17	Anaemia: (I mean)< in AA.
19	Clinch: Cl (centilitre) + inch.
21	Pastorates: DD/CD – “past orates” giving a vague definition of overdoing oration.
22	Ruin: Ruin[g].
23	Louse: OU in LSE. Hom of Laos.
24	Camisole: Amis in Cole.
Down
1	Rusher: &lit. Hurr[i]es*. Hom of Russia.
2	Eddy: [T]eddy – Teddy Sherringham.
3	Denizens: (Ezine in S (South) and ND (North Dakota))<.
4	Garner: A RN in Ger. Hom of Ghana.
5	Glitterati: (Get lit)* + rat[ted] + i.
6	Endorsee: End or see. For this to work, I assume “approved” here is meant as a noun.
8	Anticlimactic: Antic + lima + c[ri]tic.
13	Agapanthus: Aga (cooking range) + hom of “panthers”.
15	To a fault: (foul tart)* around A.
16	Excuse me: Ex + “cues me” with the middle letters swapped.
18	Marley: Mary around le – Bob Marley and also hom of Mali.
20	Chilli: CH (Central Heating) + Illi[nois]. Hom of Chile
22	Rash: DD.