Clue contest No 42

Treat US government agency elite (3,5)

US government agency = ICE Elite = cream

Ground mace with rice pudding (3,5)

*MACERICE. Def pudding as in dessert. Rice pudding usually contains nutmeg or ground mace.

99? That is around 100 at best (3,5)

99 = Def by example. IE (that is) around C (100), best as synonym for cream

One religious lesson in new Mecca provides cold comfort? (3,5)

Cryptic def; I + RE in *MECCA

Discovered pics ahead of city paper that might be scooped? (3,5)

def = that might be scooped | (p)IC(s) + EC + REAM

Crumble came with rice pudding (3,5)

(CAME + RICE)* Anagrind 'crumble' (verb, imperative), definition 'pudding' (in its sense as 'dessert')

Kill cam picks up on Magnum? (3,5)

ICE + CAM around RE def = Magnum? (def by example)

Centre of wheel snagged in misshapen ceramic cone (3,5)

*CERAMIC with (wh)E(el). Def: cone

Venus Williams’s put away about to break tennis champ briefly back in 99? (3,5)

ICE (US to put away/kill) + RE breaking MAC (McEnroe briefly) < = 99? McEnroe returned from retirement (briefly) in 1999 to play mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Steffi Graf, facing (American) Venus Williams and partner in the quarters. For surface, a put away = a point-ending (tennis) shot.

Dessert I am eating now without a care (3,5)

Def. Dessert. I (CE+C[a]RE) AM; container (eating), Common Era (now), deletion (without a)

Overpower modern American Gestapo, ordering changes? Cool stuff! (3,5)

Definition: Cool stuff. (CREAM {Overpower} ICE {modern American Gestapo}) swapped {..., ordering changes}.

One's pick if holding empty cone (3,5)

I(C[on]E)CREAM, &lit

Cold comfort from diamonds and pearls? (3,5)

Cold comfort(def) from diamonds ICE and pearls(the best of something)CREAM

Scotch on the rocks for dessert? (3,5)

CREAM (scotch, as in to kill) after ICE (the rocks)

"Sweet Caroline"'s No1 in eastern Crimea, surprisingly (3,5)

sweet = definition, c (Caroline's No1) inside eastern Crimea*

A commune turned out to be bursting with crime? It's enough to give you a headache! (3,5)

(A + C[OMMUN]E + CRIME)*; def refers to "ice cream headaches" or "brainfreeze"

Wipe out Ginger Baker and their brethren perhaps? (3,5)

Ginger Baker and brethren is CREAM, and to wipe them out would be to ICE them.

Good laugh after viewer mentioned dessert (3,5)

homophones I (eye/viewer) CE CREAM (scream/good laugh)

I scream obstreperously for it (3,5)

homophone &lit

Setter's admitting barmy recce could cause a headache (3,5)

I AM (setter is) containing (RECCE)*. Def = could cause a headache

It's (crucially) extremely cold, rich, extravagant and moreish, and that's just for starters (3,5)

Initials of It's Crucially Extremely Cold Rich Extravagant And Moreish, &lit

Whack, whop, whip? (3,5)

Whack - (ICE), whop (CREAM, as is defeat handily, whip? - definition

America endlessly messed up and divided about religious invasion, might get licked - a just dessert? (3,5)

Def: might get licked; Anagram (‘messed up’) of AMERIC[a] (‘America endlessly’) ‘divided about’ (containing) CE (‘religious invasion’), with a pun on ‘just dessert’/'just deserts'

Naked, sick secret game: it calls for licking (3,5)

(s)IC(k) (s)ECRE(t) (g)AM(e) / def = it calls for licking

Regard riot on podcast like a Neapolitan? (3,5)

Regard (eye - as in to view) riot (scream) sounds like (on podcast) a Neapolitan (definition by example). "Eye scream/ice cream". A bit of an old chestnut, perhaps.

A year after virgin birth? 100? A lot? 99 perhaps? (3,5)

I CE + C + REAM

Colombian leader and drug don wrecking America without border walls? (3,5)

Colombian leader = C. Drug = E. Anagram of (wrecking) America without border = AMERIC(a) gives ICREAM. C and E don ICREAM = ICE CREAM. Walls? = ICE CREAM (DbE, Walls is an ice cream brand).

Wild mice race for treat (3,5)

anagram ('wild') MICE RACE. Def.: treat

Rampaging cricket team skipping third slice of cake and teas, it’s said, for cold treat (3,5)

Definition: cold treat | Sub Anagram (rampaging) of CRICKET TEAM without (skipping) third letter of caKe and TT (homophone of teas, it’s said)

US agency to whip contents of tub (3,5)

US agency (I.C.E) to whip (cream) contents of tub (ice cream)

Chief Executive flipped after initial costs involved in one pad of paper; “That used to cost 99p!” (3,5)

Def = That used to cost 99p, I REAM contains C+EC

It's a treat to keep jam sandwiches sweet in the centre! (3,5)

Def: It's a treat --- ICE (to keep) CRAM (jam) is around (sandwiches) [sw]E[et]

Where hundreds and thousands are often gathered for dessert? (3,5)

CD(ish)

This French character rarely explains hints. I am eating a treat from a musical van. (3,5)

This in French is CE. Hints (first letters) of Character Rarely Explains. surrounded (eating) by I AM. Def = a treat from a musical van

In case of emergency, prime Magnum? (3,5)

ICE (in case of emergency - see Chambers) CREAM (prime), DBE

West famously caught in playground with one knocked back ‘knickerbocker glory’ (3,5)

DBE ‘knickerbocker glory’. MAE (West famously)+ R-C-EC (caught in playground)+I all reversed

I initially cover empty cones with bits of rainbow, exhilaration, and magic (3,5)

&lit / I + CEC (initially Cover Empty Cones) + REAM (bits of Rainbow Exhilaration And Magic)

Mice race around final course (3,5)

MICERACE + anagram indicator (around) = Definition (final course)

Soft drink company that gets floated? (3,5)

Cryptic definition

Screwball kept in the back of a van? (3,5)

Cryptic definition (by example): a Screwball is (was?) a type of ice cream commonly sold from ice cream vans

Flock of Hickory Dickory Dock's clock toppers on clock's top on a drop off the top got knickerbocker glory? (3,5)

Works best imagined as a down clue; "Hickory Dickory Dock's clock topper" is a mouse (nursery rhyme); a flock would be MICE. Placed on "clock's top" C and RE (on) A gives MICECREA. "Drop off the top" here indicates moving the start to the end, giving ICE CREAM, which can come in the form of a knickerbocker glory.

Naked American confused about Church sundae (3,5)

Naked American (-A)MERICA(-N) confused (anag.) about church (CE) = sundae

Copyright crime resolved over cover of Elsa’s Frozen hit? (3,5)

Def: Frozen hit? Wordplay: (C+CRIME)* containing E_A (‘s = link to def via [i]s)

Shattered ceramic laced with drug for dessert (3,5)

Anagram of CERAMIC containing (laced with) E (drug, ecstacy)

E! Ceramic broken? Sounds noisy. (3,5)

Anagram of e! Ceramic. Homophone of I scream.

Treat for weird mice holding Engliah acre, destroyed (3,5)

(MICE)* contains E+(ACRE)*

Infants initially caterwaul loudly for treat (3,5)

Sounds like of I + scream. A nod to the novelty song.

Stick food in freezer (3,5)

Cryptic definition: and if a cryptic definition needs to be explained, it hasn't worked :)

That is biting cold stuff featuring finishing touch of flake? (3,5)

That is = IE; cold = C; stuff = CRAM; finishing touch of flake = E; def = &lit

Cone treat - "Creme cocaine"! Drops cone treat! (3,5)

Def: cone treat. CREME(co)CAI(ne)*

One hundred leading Europeans mix dessert (3,5)

I(one) C(hundred) + E(uropeans) + CREAM(mix) = dessert (definition)

Regulars in kitchen given pick of the bunch for dessert (3,5)

alternating letters of kitchen/ICE CREAM/pick of the bunch