Jumbo 672 – run out of long phrases?

Another Times Jumbo with no answers longer than 14 letters. As PB often says, why make a 23×23 grid if you’re not going to use the extra size?

ACROSS

9 CAS(h),HEW, or maybe CASH,(h)EW even!
18 M(ATE=tea*)Y – China (plate)=mate (rhyming slang)
22 UN,STRAP – I put UNSCREW in at first, which caused me problems with 23dn.
27 crAFTER, THOUGH Tasteful – one of the longest hidden words I’ve seen, and not immediately obvious when I read the clue.
30 RAITA (“writer”) – not homophonic the way I pronounce it, but I’ll let it go…
31 Hidden in casserolES, SAY, I STewed – Lamb is Charles Lamb, aka Elia (very commonly seen in crosswords)
32 SEND DOWN – Two meanings, send to prison or kick out of college.
36 LEONARDO – I suppose this is referring to The Da Vinci Code. Don’t know what people see in it…
37 ASSAI(l) – Italian for “very”, used in musical notation
43 EC(L)IPS,E – SPICE “going west”=reversed (only usable in across clues)
45 CENTRAL AMERICA – i.e. both can be abbreviated to CA
53 LUNATIC FRINGE – which gives a clue to “finger”. Talbinho said just over a week ago that you hardly ever see this type of clue outside advanced cryptics, but there have been several examples since. I think the setters might have seen it as a challenge!

DOWN

5 CARICATURIST – (Caustic art r I)* – excellent &lit reading – this is the sort of clue that wins clueing competitions.
7 AITCH – clue refers to the phonetic alphabet (or NATO alphabet as they now call it).
11 HEAR,TH(R)UG
12 WRYLY (“Riley”, as in The Life of …)
13 MOCK TURTLE SOUP – A new one to me, the definition in Chambers is “an imitation of turtle soup, made of calf’s head or veal”.
20 TO NO AVAIL – “two know a veil”
23 P(O(ld),TENT,I)ATE – tent is a Spanish red wine, seen far more often than the canvas variety in crosswords.
24 START A HARE – I put START A RACE in at first, but luckily had a quick check in the dictionary before sending it off.
26 PRESENT PERFECT – not in Chambers, but it is in Collins as another name for the perfect tense – I assume as opposed to past perfect and future perfect?
28 OLD MASTER – (art models)* – another excellent art-related &lit clue.
33 OYSTERCATCHER – ref. The Walrus and the Carpenter in Through the Looking-Glass.
38 GEOCENTRIC – like bourGEOisie!
42 A,R,BOREAL=of the North, e.g. aurora borealis=Northern Lights
44 PUNSTER – I thought sarcasm was supposed to be the lowest form of wit, not puns…
47 EDISON? – Can’t think of any other inventors who’d fit, but don’t get the wordplay.