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Hi aristo, my takes are;
jono @ 5, dry = TT (tee-total) in
[ou (wherein in French!) + HE (His Excellency, Ambassador + RE (engineers)]
fiery @ 26, [(west rodeo hurt) - words]*; anagrind: wild

Thanks, ginge. I often see TT in British puzzles but it just didn't register.

Hi again aristo, I'll wager it shocked you that I know the term!

Spot on ginge. Also...

Dry (Manhattan) Oddball - 4 parts Bourbon, 2 parts Martini Extra Dry vermouth, 1 part Yellow Chartreuse, 3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Cheers Ginge

You folks are really cranking it up! All of these are win-worthy. Favorite touches: mattrom’s chattering teeth, paul’s crazy tutor, mathprof’s Big 12 score (loved it!), buddy’s scramble start, dorrien’s self-exposure, jono’s left-field, paulh’s succinct dismissed soldier…quite the basket of treats. I’m going with ginge’s innovative out-there jewel @27:

Freakish characters going through puberty with three nuts (3,5)

I did wonder whether it's too "ghostish" but it won me over.

The prize:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6zlXbATp6M

Again, most impressive.

(Were you channeling ab with your ether, fiery?)

Congrats to ginge and thanks for hosting aristo.... but can someone parse the winning clue for me? (And "ghostish"?)

I think it`s all about `balls` Buddy!

Thanks Aristo and well done Ginge ...
... Peer Review to follow shortly

Congrats, Ginge, and thanks to Aristo for the mention and the challenge.
Buddy, ' characters going through puberty' = y(OUT)h + THREE, anagrammed.
Ghost is when a word in the clue leads to another word, which is then treated, usually an anagram.

Congrats Ginge and many thanks for the challenge Aristo and the mention.

500th next week I see. Who here was in Clueless 001 ?