Clue contest No 42

Treat US government agency elite (3,5)

US government agency = ICE Elite = cream

Ground mace with rice pudding (3,5)

*MACERICE. Def pudding as in dessert. Rice pudding usually contains nutmeg or ground mace.

99? That is around 100 at best (3,5)

99 = Def by example. IE (that is) around C (100), best as synonym for cream

One religious lesson in new Mecca provides cold comfort? (3,5)

Cryptic def; I + RE in *MECCA

Discovered pics ahead of city paper that might be scooped? (3,5)

def = that might be scooped | (p)IC(s) + EC + REAM

Crumble came with rice pudding (3,5)

(CAME + RICE)* Anagrind 'crumble' (verb, imperative), definition 'pudding' (in its sense as 'dessert')

Kill cam picks up on Magnum? (3,5)

ICE + CAM around RE def = Magnum? (def by example)

Centre of wheel snagged in misshapen ceramic cone (3,5)

*CERAMIC with (wh)E(el). Def: cone

Venus Williams’s put away about to break tennis champ briefly back in 99? (3,5)

ICE (US to put away/kill) + RE breaking MAC (McEnroe briefly) < = 99? McEnroe returned from retirement (briefly) in 1999 to play mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Steffi Graf, facing (American) Venus Williams and partner in the quarters. For surface, a put away = a point-ending (tennis) shot.

Dessert I am eating now without a care (3,5)

Def. Dessert. I (CE+C[a]RE) AM; container (eating), Common Era (now), deletion (without a)

Overpower modern American Gestapo, ordering changes? Cool stuff! (3,5)

Definition: Cool stuff. (CREAM {Overpower} ICE {modern American Gestapo}) swapped {..., ordering changes}.

One's pick if holding empty cone (3,5)

I(C[on]E)CREAM, &lit

Cold comfort from diamonds and pearls? (3,5)

Cold comfort(def) from diamonds ICE and pearls(the best of something)CREAM

Scotch on the rocks for dessert? (3,5)

CREAM (scotch, as in to kill) after ICE (the rocks)

"Sweet Caroline"'s No1 in eastern Crimea, surprisingly (3,5)

sweet = definition, c (Caroline's No1) inside eastern Crimea*

A commune turned out to be bursting with crime? It's enough to give you a headache! (3,5)

(A + C[OMMUN]E + CRIME)*; def refers to "ice cream headaches" or "brainfreeze"

Wipe out Ginger Baker and their brethren perhaps? (3,5)

Ginger Baker and brethren is CREAM, and to wipe them out would be to ICE them.

Good laugh after viewer mentioned dessert (3,5)

homophones I (eye/viewer) CE CREAM (scream/good laugh)

I scream obstreperously for it (3,5)

homophone &lit

Comic Eric Morecambe rejecting robe as ‘childish’ award? (3,5)

Definition ‘childish’ award- ERIC M[ore]CAM[b]E*

Setter's admitting barmy recce could cause a headache (3,5)

I AM (setter is) containing (RECCE)*. Def = could cause a headache

It's (crucially) extremely cold, rich, extravagant and moreish, and that's just for starters (3,5)

Initials of It's Crucially Extremely Cold Rich Extravagant And Moreish, &lit

Whack, whop, whip? (3,5)

Whack - (ICE), whop (CREAM, as is defeat handily, whip? - definition

America endlessly messed up and divided about religious invasion, might get licked - a just dessert? (3,5)

Def: might get licked; Anagram (‘messed up’) of AMERIC[a] (‘America endlessly’) ‘divided about’ (containing) CE (‘religious invasion’), with a pun on ‘just dessert’/'just deserts'

Naked, sick secret game: it calls for licking (3,5)

(s)IC(k) (s)ECRE(t) (g)AM(e) / def = it calls for licking

Regard riot on podcast like a Neapolitan? (3,5)

Regard (eye - as in to view) riot (scream) sounds like (on podcast) a Neapolitan (definition by example). "Eye scream/ice cream". A bit of an old chestnut, perhaps.