Here is a (not very good) procedure for converting words to numbers:
Case insensitive.
Delete all letters from the word which are not valid Roman Numeral characters.
Read the remaining characters, in order, as a Roman Numeral.
If the resultant set of characters is the empty set, the value is 0.
If the resultant set of characters is not a valid Roman Numeral, the value is undefined.
If the resultant set of characters is a valid Roman Numeral, the value is the decimal equivalent of the Roman Numeral.

Find the matching words based on the decimal value and a clue.
Example:
190 Helps with a will
190 = CXC [answer = coexecutor];

1) 21 Some microorganisms make
2) 45 Socrates called. He wants his life back.
3) 96 Who moved my coal?
4) 141 Don't throw away the cane.
5) 161 This medicine stopped working.
6) 255 Agent 86's cone of silence, for example.
7) 260 Boils between 80 and 81 degrees Celsius
8) 310 What Napoleon Dynamite's grandma broke
9) 911 Some microorganisms can
10) 960 A type of number
11) 1110 Fireholder or tiny car
12) 1300 Might make you cough
13) 1552 A politician does what?
14) 3051 Has a subcellular unit of 80S size, not 70S

(In reply to what comes to mind and then computer help (spoilers) by Charlie)

5) I will count Cephalexin as correct.  But while Cephalexin is certainly a medication, and thus is a valid solution given the clue, there is another solution which actually means "the process of a medication working well at first but then working less effectively over time" (the implication being over a short period of time, so the change occurs rapidly).

7) One of the 2 chemicals named is correct.  The other fits the Roman numeral pattern, but has a different boiling point.

The rest are correct.

And I agree with your assessment regarding #13.

Edited on April 12, 2023, 6:23 pm

Posted by Larry on 2023-04-12 18:22:09