1a) careless friends returning have a hurry (8) ?L???A??
17a) Pass American party speech on working together (13) ?O?L???R?L?S?
20a) Study hint about Germany and make inferences (8) ?O?C?R?E
23a) Give details of French writer (8) S?S?????
12d) Come back with a new cover (7) R?T?R?S
12d I wonder if it might be RETREAD? The clue makes it unlikely that it will be either a plural noun or a third person singular present verb, so maybe the 'S' is incorrect?