Across
Essential element of jam trade (7)
Launch of biography (uncompleted) by posh person (4-3)
Label report of familiar ex-captain (5)
Able to take part in sport, preserving body (9)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
COMPETE + N[ational] T[rust] – a “preserving body”
Night visitor with cash for discarded item of dining equipment (5,5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
I think this is just a cryptic definition, the “discarded item of dinner equipment” being a child’s lost tooth.
Soften back massage, taking in middle of shoulders (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
[shou]L[ders] in RUB<
One wearing tailored "tar" strides, which are awful to get into (4,7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
I in (TAR STRIDES)*
Scoff at Delhi's odd, non-independent support for capital punishment (3,8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
(SCOFF AT DELHI)* less I[ndependent]
Goo: youngster swallows litre! (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
L in PUP
Bush given a life without need, tension and Henry (10)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
LACK + T + H in BORN (given a life)
Top of London Eye can't, when revolving without energy/gas (9)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
E[nergy] in (L + EYE CANT)*
Marie Stopes's housing sign (5)
There's nothing in waste, having lost US city (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
O in DETRIT[US] – so the definition is just “city”
Nutty quality Dan introduced randomly into jam (7)
Down
Legless and short? They're just the opposite (6)
Secure a job, almost (6)
Line in scrap, which might be cut for a cockpit (6,4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
L in FIGHT + DECK (which may be cut, as in a deck of cards)
Doubly firm, top grade drink (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
CO[mpany] twice + A (top grade)
Scour rocks after meat and drink (9)
Charge round opening of roof on the house (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
R[oof] in FEE
Produced too many eggs with a coating (8)
Visionary sporting tutu: first time away (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
(TUTU FIRST)* less one of the Ts
Plastic, offbeat, direct comedian (6,4)
Almost sated inside, monarch's stand-in is radiant (9)
Daughter, hit with much cash, backs dramatist (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
D RAP POTS) all reversed
Determined underworld criminal (8)
River rats patrol (6)
"Number's up" is spiritual knowledge (6)
Finest 50,000 sheets of paper in modern terms (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
REAM(s) is 50,000 sheets. A ream is now 500 sheets, but was formerly 480, hence “in miodern terms”
A spinner's short period in work (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Y[ea]R in GO (work)
Type letters or click words in the clue