Crosswords

In a similar(ish) vein: Matters of give and take between our betters (4)

ante?

edit: i was close but no

^close, aye. ante is a word that seems to appear as a component with worrying frequency. I can only parse about 50% of the clues I'm reading at the moment which is hugely frustrating because I don't know where to target decoding efforts :/

i thought i was being clever with anti/ ante matter/matters

is it odds?

yup.

More roman numeral frustrations:

Gets the 1:50 in time, being nimble (5)

is it odds?

habbi / 6pt, can you explain why? I can't see it.

In a similar(ish) vein: Matters of give and take between our betters (4)

why is it odds?

betters = people who bet
give and take = someone wins, someone loses
does matters mean odds somehow?

what more clue is here

odds are given/taken when betting, I thought.

ag i L e

v good. people are so quick. I am not.

age - time
i - 1
L - 50
agile

i at least got the "i L".....

I still wonder if i'm missing something in "odds" - because from that much information I can only see where it came from, I could never guess it without knowing.

I have a guardian crossword app on my phone. it's free, it downloads them so you can use them on the phone and it checks them and solves them if you're being thick.

you're over analysing, matters just starts the sentence and sets context

Undrinkable alcohol, in my opinion, should not contain writing fluid (5)

Meths? Took me a while to figure out what to take the ink out of.

Today's 3 down is too easy. I feel cheated.

I have an unreasonable hatred of cryptic crosswords. I mean, really, really unreasonable. The clues make me furious. It's not the not being able to solve them, it's just the words themselves. The kind of nonsense sentences that form the clues. "After eights? More like plaudits". That kind of thing.
Sorry, I am genuinely getting angry just thinking about it. It's hard to explain.

I'm scared of crypts. I always worry that those buried down there will have cross words with me.