Partial solution

>! <PRE>Chef    1. Boss turns blind eye to knife user (4)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        2. Charge with first-degree larceny makes sense (4)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        3. Recite backwards about king computer worm (6)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        4. Start donning trousers, topless educators (5)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        5. Initial understanding negotiated, communist backs down (5)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Lands   6. Boys have top notch territories (5)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        7. Neo, alternatively! (3)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        8. Look for turban head by telephone (4)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        9. Point to uneven axioms (3)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Bridge  10. First groom taken by wife-to-be to game (6)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Yore    11. Your hearing time long ago (4)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>        12. Spring quest starts before fall ends (5)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Socks   13. In distress, comedian Louis punches hard (5)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Fore    14. Warning for ultimate disobedience (4)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Deck    15. Dress up a ship's surface (4)<BR></PRE>
>! <PRE>Sitter  16. Tetris complicated for caretaker (6)<BR></PRE>