Lovely puzzle, and knowing Cage allowed me to back-solve/confirm a few clues (like
31A31AI own no whiskey in the east of South Africa; it's owned by the government (8)
[--------] ). Only rough bit was the dupe of FACE, but both of those clues are terrific, so I can understand wanting to keep 'em.
I particularly liked/was fooled by "Grant loses his ancestor" (
5A5AComfort half-heartedly, after Grant loses his ancestor's jewels (8)
[--------] ), "Stop all communication" (
15A15AStop all communication with head of German army (5)
[-----] ), "naughty naked ninja" (
25D25DKing, first of all, leads naughty naked ninja and some Japanese characters (5)
[-----] ), and
26A26ADwayne Johnson initially keen on Californian drama about Republican (3,4)
[-------] ,
29A29AWarm-up question for polar navigator? (10)
[----------] ,
2D2DI heard lead character in Lolita has grey hair (7)
[-------] ,
18D18DDevotee accepts gold and it's corrupt, like a deal with the devil (8)
[--------] .