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12d] Vow to put on ruffles beneath cape, and suspenders, in closet.[4,7]
??A? / H?N???S

coat hangers (suspenders in closet)

Ta jazzgirl.

vow - oath
cape - c
ruffles - angers

M?E???E
25ac]Join retired and oddly torpid musicians of distinction.[7]

Maestri

Join (SEAM) backwards (retired) + odd letters from torpid

Maestri (musicians of distinction
join- seam (reversed) + odd letters of torpid tri

See the "dreadful clue" thread, hallgreening - you've encountered the problem!

...the problem that was only a problem for some solvers!

I don't normally do the Times, but we've a friend staying who had got stuck and passed it to me. I thought that the across one should end TRI, but he had a E. I checked online and in Chambers, and CAESAREAN SECTION (in my Chambers, at least) is the only spelling it allows, though it does allow CAESARIAN as a general term of "referring to Caesars".