[tlr]

F = forte which means loud in musical land.

I hate music clues and horticultural clues! 

[Duma]

Brilliant, thanks! Any idea on the first one?

[nik at work]

Perennial transexual and endless idiot infiltrate handgun (9)

I think this is right.
The whole thing is a perennial

transexual = ts*
endless idiot = fool with the end taken off = foo
infiltrate handgun = put tr + foo into "handgun"
handgun = colt

col_____t, insert ts + foo = coltsfoot

*not 100% about this bit, it's more reverse engineered than anything else but can't come up with an alternative

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Vegetarian is Welshman consumed by coltsfoot and drug. 9

Should really be:

Vegetarian Welshman is consumed by coltsfoot and drug. 9

Sorry, some poor copy and pasting on my part. Doesn't make much of a difference though.

Help! 

[nik at work]

naive herbivore eats everything (6)

Explanation for arfk:
coltsfoot = herb
drug = e
welshman = ivor
ivor "consumed" by herb and e = herb ivor e

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

no. Now I've seen the answer it's apples.

Thanks!

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Mechanical lion in broadcast television programme starring Simon Callow? [6,2,1,7]

[minor edit for clarity and linguistic accuracy]

(oh. And well-worked & elegant clue, nik)

[nik at work]

Thank-you.

[tlr]

Clear air reportedly given by a chance in a million. 4,4

[john horscroft]

F = forte which means loud in musical land.

I hate music clues and horticultural clues!

  feel free to 

[john horscroft]

Perennial transexual and endless idiot infiltrate handgun (9)

The whole thing is a perennial

transexual = ts*
endless idiot = fool with the end taken off = foo
infiltrate handgun = put tr + foo into "handgun"
handgun = colt

col_____t, insert ts + foo = coltsfoot

*not 100% about this bit, it's more reverse engineered than anything else but can't come up with an alternative

 

Spot on Nik.  Thought everyone knew that transexual was ts   

[tlr]

Ok, 24 hours is up so time for new clue. Same answer. Sorry if the first one was a bit hard.

Plastic soldier leads, excited ukc beginner seconds by sheer chance. 4,4

[Duma]

Spot on Nik.  Thought everyone knew that transexual was ts   

We don't all move in those circles john...

tlr, despite much time spent mulling, I still have no justifiable ideas for the first word...
(fiend is 5 letters sadly)

[Duma]

OK (hopefully) got it, still don't understand the first clue, or the first part of the second though, which makes me doubt myself.

Off to spend lunch failing at clue composition now...

[Duma]

Still can't make my answer fit properly, so I rather expect this to be a wasted clue.
Anyway...
Hard luck, lost a Chinese colony before the queen's setter. [7]

[johnx2]

I don't think that's quite right...

How about:

It’s got it by pure luck? Flummoxed without he hideous mature arse.


Pure because PU = Poly Urethane = plastic; RE = Royal Engineers = soldier

[Duma]

sounds better - I just got excited by excited....

Any light on the first clue?

Edited to add: how many letters?

[tlr]

Sorry Duma, John's right.

First clue was simply synonyms for CLEAR and AIR (giving LOOK, reportedly indicating a homophone). Quite hard without any unches I think. I was trying to avoid anagrams too.

[johnx2]

yeah my clue's unfortunately very shite and mechanical, best I could do in 2 mins , I'm stupid busy but will look in with cclues later if nec.

[Duma]

thanks for explanation tlr - no need to apologise, I knew there was something wrong... missed that sense of reportedly.

Also can someone explain "unches" for me?

Edited to remove stupid question...

[Duma]

johnx2 we need a letter count! and am I right in assuming you meant "the" not "he"?

[tlr]

Unches are the cross checked spaces in crossword grids.

Looks like you've worked out that air and look can mean the same....

RE is often indicated by soldier, as is GI - I don't make these abbreviations up, honest, they are generally accepted in cryptic crosswords; I believe they appear in a dictionary or something. Not sure I've ever seen transexual for TS though....

[Duma]

Yeah RE did ring a bell once I was told, wasn't querying the validity of anything!
Where/how does unches originate then?

[john horscroft]

Unches are the cross checked spaces in crossword grids.

Looks like you've worked out that air and look can mean the same....

RE is often indicated by soldier, as is GI - I don't make these abbreviations up, honest, they are generally accepted in cryptic crosswords; I believe they appear in a dictionary or something. Not sure I've ever seen transexual for TS though....

Oh, come on, they use it in the Telegraph all the time.... 

[tlr]

Sorry, unches are the UNCHEcked spaces in the grid.