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Some comments about recent developments in cluing.
In the good old days, the indicator "key" was musical in nature, and implied a single letter between A and G. Now it is more often used to imply common three-letter combinations from the computer keyboard - ESC, TAB, ALT, DEL, CAP, etc.
Similarly, references to popular culture have become more frequent and varied. Some feel uncomfortable with this: however, the late great Araucaria had no such qualms, and was equally at home with classical literature and modern sports people. Two that appear frequently are ANT and DEC.

I have no problem with modern usage though I wonder sometimes if the puzzle might have limited shelf life. ANT and DEC I suspect will stand the test of time by virtue of being very useful three letter combinations .

Companies are another example, SKY, IBM, ICI, EMI are allowed by the Times, though brand names are not allowed as answers.

Recently I saw “X” recently clued as “Twitter once”.

My favourite clue of recent times had two very different such references. Paul (I think) had "Extend Tesla scandal (8)" for "Elongate"

Morning BuzzyBee. I amended your heading to make it obvious that the thread relating to Clues. I also inserted the @ to show it was a personal thread rather than one related to a particular crossword.

We’re both up and about early on yet another wet morning, well it is in Derbyshire.☔️

Thanks Norah, makes things a bit clearer. Mid-autumn here in New Zealand, so not the wee hours.

Supposed to be Spring here but the weather has been absolutely awful, so much rain. I started wearing my summer t-shirts one sunny day a couple of weeks ago but I’ve gone back to my long sleeve cotton polos.

On the subject of modern usage, from today’s Guardian…

Jobseeker right behind tech company, receiving its trademark letter? (7)

Very modern. I’ve only just started getting used to the one-letter newspaper …

Twice recently I've come across "squeeze" to mean a date, more generally a lover or good friend. I've never heard this use of the word before. Apparently it began in the 1980s amongst black teenagers in the USA.