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12a. Fresh trouble and strife occasioned by the same?
WAR BRIDE

15a. Mount very retrograde operation against one from America
VESUVIUS

19a. From dark heap picked up a sort of acid
NITRIC

Parses for the above please.

15 USE V reversed (very operation), then V (against) I (one) US (America)

19 sounds like NIGHT RICK (heap of hay, for example)

12 "trouble and strife" is rhyming slang for "wife" (as well as meaning WAR), but I can't see how "fresh" fits in

Cheers chrise, I think the 'fresh' just means 'new' as in new wife, ie BRIDE.

21a. Boy's engaging ME strip, casting article on Serpentine
ZIGZAGGY

26a. Pointed to spot, clutching hip
SPINY

6d. Mutton graduate gives girl
EMMA

Parses for the above please.

G(a)ZA in ZIGGY

IN (hip) in SPY (spot)

EM (Em-dash, aka mutton in typography slang) + MA (graduate)

Thanks getting...I'd never heard of mutton/m-dash, the things you learn.