Direct on the left, first and last letters are both consonants

After a great deal of scribbling out, "tragicomic"

Anag (citric mango) with no N(ame)

Yes indeed: ===[**CDM**]===

Thanks, Lex!

Drink list gets audible complaint (5,4)

Early-ish hints:

Direct on the left
Synonym and a homophone
Wordplay 5+5
Both words end in 'e'

table wine?

One belt and a bottle of Chateau Worrier coming your way: ===[**CDM**]===

Hm, sounds fancy!

choppy sea floods vehicle, spills tea from broken pitcher, and makes road damp (6,6)

Caesar cipher

You are diabolical, Demosthenes

I thought you'd like that one

===[**CDM**]===

I did like it. Thank you!

Alien cloaked in universal shadow, e.g. (8)

It's a specific alien

OK - Sure I'm going to kick myself, but why 'makes road damp'

Clever clever clever

cosmETic

You're clearly brilliant, Rog! Don't get any eye shadow on the belt, please. ===[**CDM**]===

As if I would - I always use a bib around my neck...

One from Mrs. Worrier's book of "Contrived Clues Designed to Annoy People":

Second little creature, awake, left before end of play in an awkward manner (4-10)

Gaah - letter count is wrong


Should be (4-10)

Sorreee...

self-consciously (s + elf + conscious + l [left] + y [end of play])

(Also every time I count the letters in "consciously" I come up with either 10 or 11, but after breaking it up into component parts I'm pretty sure it's 11! )

It was all OK until I split it up for the wordplay count and convinced myself that "conscious" had 8 letters

(Hands over belt with a sheepish grin) ===[**CDM**]===

(I had similar troubles, which confirms for me that it's just an evil word that should never be counted.) And now for something completely different:

Little creature beheaded colossal albatross, left before end of play in an awkward manner (9)

Direct on right. 4 vowels, no e, l, or y.

vccvcvcvc