Guardian Genius - Last Two

[JJ109]

Please note there are extra instructions for this crossword. 12 are special answers, but these two I am struggling with are not these special ones, they are just ordinary answers. However EVERY clue also has one word that is "superfluous"

5d. A politician, awfully rude, exits Spain a lost soul (3,6) A _ E / _ E _ D _ E
(I have worked out from solving the rest of the crossword, that the superfluous word is "EXITS")
Therefore the clue really reads
A politician, awfully rude, Spain a lost soul (3,6)
A lost soul = perdue which = an anagram of rude + E(spana + P at the beginning
Is there a phrase Ade Perdue, Ame Perdue, Are Perdue etc etc which will give the politician (REP, DEM, MEP etc) at the front
Or am I completely off track?

7d. Apostasies increase scores over time (8). R _ T _I _ G _
(the superfluous word is "increase").

Many thanks
Therefore the clue reads
Apostasies scores over time (8). R _ T _ I _ G _
......ends in "age" ???

[JJ109]

7d Rattings (apostasies) = ratings (scores) + T(ime) ??

[fiction-factory]

Rep. Perdue- Republican senator David Perdue?

[fiction-factory]

or Sen Pardue

[fiction-factory]

Sen. Perdue, I meant

[fiction-factory]

example here
https://www.cnbc.com/david-perdue/
(CNN so maybe fake news?)

[iminoz]

Ame, with a circumflex over the A is French for soul.

[fiction-factory]

so answer is "âme perdue"- which is actually French for 'lost soul'. Perdue is the politician then ?

[Neveracrossword]

I think MEP is the politician - Member of the European Parliament

[Neveracrossword]

… A MEP +anagram of Rude + E, Spain.

[fiction-factory]

Got you, thanks. A MEP + anagram of RUDE +E

[fiction-factory]

Ha, yes!

[Neveracrossword]

FF, glad you saw how it worked.

[JJ109]

Many thanks everyone!

[Hagen]

Anyone else ended up with 13, not 12, clues that require treatment? The only way to explain away the "extra" thematic clue that I can see is to interpret the "last bit of" a 5-letter word as meaning all but its first letter!

[JJ109]

I have the same as you Hagen (and also one of the three letter theme words is there twice) I think the one you refer to has "oney" as the last bit and so does not count as another theme word though.
Good Luck

[Hagen]

Yes, that's what I thought, JJ. "Last bit" is rather a stretch for 80% of the word, isn't it? If it was just the Y this would work perfectly as another theme clue.

[JJ109]

Agreed, again!