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18A Officer hiding behind one lieutenant (6) ?A?S??

21A Saucy writer starts to joke about assassin (5)

This looks like NINJA and not seeing all the parsing

17A Piano is not TV studio equipment (8)

Looks like PLIOTRON but, again, not seeing all the parsing

18 Cassio - lieutenant in Shakespeare.
21 Ninja - Anais Nin wrote erotic/seductive books, so it's Nin+J +A ('starts to Joke About).

Cassio
Ninja (Anais Nin + A J)
Paintbox Ang + Box (TV)

17 Paintbox, studio equipment. P/piano Aint Box/TV.

Thanks so much for your excellent help

all done except this last one and can only come up with mean..... help please

Poor or very good (4)

?e?n

many thanks

got it now!

Mean (as in player/opponent) or poor

Mean (as in player/opponent) or poor

Mean (as in player/opponent) or poor