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aspria: 17 - the wordplay is four-letter word for caring containing impatience initially. There is a split synonym beginning and end and a substitution in the first five letters of 8, the 8th letter of which is a g.
manu: yes, case is almost always used for the outside letters - that's partly what fooled me.

And one of my first guesses was the correct contest! But I shrugged it off because it didn't contain any numbers... That'll teach me not to think outside the box

Sorry to be so slow - I'm still struggling with 17 & 8, and with 4.
What are the definitions in these clues? Are they neighbours and fibre? And if so, what sort of neighbours?
Any help gratefully received! I'm usually a great fan of Paul, but this is really frustrating.

@rayh

the special clues are in groups of 2 or 3 contiguous clues. There's a group of 3 contiguous clues among the across clues (you must have guessed by now that 9ac is one of them), there's another group of 3 among the first down clues, and a group of 2 consecutive clues around the end of the down clues (you'll know which ones if you've read our posts).

neighbours in a state and fibre (metaphorically), yes.

@jason655

Fibre is the definition (figuratively, not literally). The synonym starts with a homophone for a two-digit number.

Neighbours in a state : think geographical neighbours, the two of them forming a state

Thank you manu and prospero.
I had the synonym for 4 ages ago but made the wrong substitution.
And I had the neighbours but still can't see the substitutions. I have a U (from the African at 19) which I can't fit into any substitution.
Is the synonym for a number in 17 replaced by a pure number?

yes, a straight number. The U is the beginning of the second half of the substitution that begins 17 and ends 8. It comes from burdened.

Just worked it all out!
How contrived - I didn't expect part of the number to end up in the second word.
Many thanks all.

A belated well done and thanks to Loge for the explanation.
I don't have a problem with synonyms being used, as VB's Language does include them, even though that is not specifically mentioned in the preamble. I do think it's unfair that they be split.
I also can't see that the pronunciation of the first 2 letters of 8d. ( audio or Chambers) gives a homophone of 'two'.