Possible Clues:

• The way things stand, Asti is drunk
• A rest taken on island? That's the way things are
• A single 19 across isn't finished outside Centre the way things stand
• Need to get out of East Indies the way things stand
• Deposit with investment returns already
• Flop, tax-free scheme rejected already
• In fact
• 'The way things stand now . . .'
• A model lives in the present state
• “The way things stand...”