The Times 28947 +28980

[TioMateo]

Drop a trail of blood? (7) = DESCENT.  I get drop = Descent, and trail =SCENT, but why does blood =DE?

 

Little monkey's spotted leaving river (3) = IMP.  How does IMP(URE) = spotted?

 

Choose cape shunned by African Christian (3).  OPT.  If Coptic = African Christian, How does CIC = Cape?

 

Kind of dash astride horse in St Albans or Telford?  (6). EPONYM.  I get the parsing of EM around PONY, but why St Albans & Telford?

 

Account showing pork pie manufacturer's invoice fairly settled, avoiding fine (5,4).  BILLY LIAR.  I get the parsing completely, but why/how does BILLY LIAR = Account?

 

Light yarn binding closeto door fixture (8,5).  I get the parsing, but have never met the phrase FRICTION MATCH.  It's not in Chambers, but presumably means the same as a NEEDLE MATCH?

 

[Neveracrossword]

Friction Match is in Collins, a reference book often used in the Times  - but the definition there is only 'a match that ignites as a result of the heat produced by friction when it is struck on a rough surface'. There's nothing about fixtures...

[Neveracrossword]

For opt, it's simply Copt that is 'a member of the Coptic Church', with the usual C for Cape being dropped.

[scorpiojo]

Pork pie manufacturer = Billy liar

Bill (account) + (f)airly anagram

 

[scorpiojo]

(Thomas) Telford & St Albans are both named after people 

[Neveracrossword]

Eponym - I think those are places named after the people, and that's what an eponym is (according to Chambers).

[scorpiojo]

Spotted = dirty =impure

[writesbad]

If something is spotted it is impure. Ure is a river which is dropped, leaving Imp for monkey

St Albans and Telford are eponyms, ie named after real people

[writesbad]

Bill (invoice) and anag of (f)airly (avoiding "f" for "fine")

[Neveracrossword]

For the first one, I think it's just a double definition - and 'of blood' = descent as in your history, your genealogy, bloodline etc.

[Lie-in King]

Friction match - 'fiction' (yarn, binding; containing) '(doo)r' (close) + 'match' (fixture)

[writesbad]

To be clear: a friction match is a kind of light. The rest parses as LIK says:  a yarn , story, is a fiction. include "r", and match is a fixture