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5a Give in short extract with book (7), 17a Man abandoning plot for all his books? (6), 28a US island escape? Initially wonderful time there! (3,4) and 7d Lots of egg shell's left at the end of the day (7). I think the answers are Succumb, Oeuvre, Key West, and Umpteen, but would like help with parsing, please.

All correct, Bassett.

5a suc(k) + cum + b
17a (man)œuvre
28a Escape is a typewriter key + W (initially wonderful) + EST (Eastern Standard Time, the zone in Florida, home of the answer)

7d (H)umpt(y) egg leaving shell + een (evening) was how I originally parsed it, but I’m not wild about it, so I’ll reconsider

Thanks very much, Quisling.

Can almost parse this:
8d Like Abba's ratings in two-part series (4-2-4)

Looks like 'Back-to-back'.

I think it's "ratings" as in 'sailor' so AB and in ABBA the AB's are "back to back"

Thank you.