I struggled Ray because I didn't understand the substitutions completely with 5a and 7a which I initially got the right answers but input incorrectly. With the hints in that link I was able to see what I was doing incorrectly and have now only 5 clues left to solve.
I shall give you the most complicated answer *with a lot of letters" so you may be able to see the pattern also.
17,14,8Neighbours in a state caring to admit impatienve initially,- burdened with mother a saga unfolding (7,3,14)
The definition is "neighbours in a state" and that is "Trinidad and Tobago"
You now "inflate" the numbers (trio and to) so (Tri) nidad and (to)bag(o) become with "foursome" and "three"
Fonidad and Threebagursome, which is the input
That is then parsed as
Fond(caring) with I(mpatience) + an anagram of "burdened mother a saga"
Great feeling when you work them out, so don't give up, just don't expect to rattle them off!