You make some very good points mintyman - 31 certainly needs an anagrind to accompany 'Mao'. 27 is definitely the 'one case' referred to in thepreamble, and although Chambers Word Wizard does give another arrangement of the same letters, I think this must be a proper noun. Although the preamble doesn't say so, 10 can clearly be placed within the theme word to make another, as well as preceding it. Still not convinced that 14 is a sound clue, though the answer is clear at least.
'Breakfast' = cereal ('mouth' = homophone)