The last one... 17a, "Substanceless novel about a volunteer group related to Labour." N?T?L, and the only word I can think of that makes sense is NATAL, but I can't parse it. I'm guessing Labour means the Labour Party, but I don't know what the reference is to. Any help greatly appreciated!
Thank you! then "novel" doesn't mean "book" but "in a different way". And a Ta is a volunteer group. Hmm, I must say that seems to me a somewhat laboured (ha ha!) clue.