Not the easiest of quickies, it took me ten minutes or so but I had to duck and dive around the grid, not just write them in from top to bottom. Only two anagrams today and one hidden word so you need your cryptic skills to sort out the rest. For some reason the Down clues are eaiser than the Across, probably because mostly they're shorter.
| Across |
| 1 | ASKANCE - ASK = request, DANCE = waltz; heading off = ANCE; def. sideways. |
| 5 | HOLLY - WHOLLY = completely, cut off the front; def. prickly shrub. |
| 8 | THAT'S TORN IT - Def. Oh dear! Second def. literal pun. |
| 10 | MOLE - Double definition. Chestnut flavour. |
| 11 | PICKED UP - Another double definition. |
| 12 | DAMSON - DAM = mother, SON = child, making a jam variety. |
| 14 | ANTHEM - Cryptic definition, as in National Anthem, air or song. |
| 16 | HEADWIND - HEAD = promontory, WIND = snake (verb); def. may impede one's progress. There's misdirection here to make you think of ASP... words and suchlike. |
| 18 | URDU - Hidden word in O(UR DU)TY; def. tongue. |
| 20 | TEACHER'S PET - (THE CREEP SAT)*; def. favoured pupil. |
| 22 | BROTH - BROTHER (sibling) has the ER (hesitation) removed, to leave soup. |
| 23 | UNCTION - FUNCTION = reception, remove the F(emale); def. insincere words. |
| Down |
| 2 | SET-TO - (TEST)*, anagrind 'out', O = old; def. argument. |
| 3 | AMADEUS - A MAD (crazy) then SUE reversed; def. musical film. |
| 4 | COS - CO = company, S - small; def. Greek island. I've always known it as KOS as there is no C in the Greek alphabet, but COS is given as an anglicised alternative. Normally a pleasant island but currently not the place to be unless you're an illegal immigrant, Turkey being only 4 km away. |
| 6 | OUNCE - ONCE = in the past, ingests U (uranium); def. small quantity. Ingesting uranium is not recommended. |
| 7 | LETTUCE - LET (allow) TUC (workers' organisation), E(nglish); def. plant, from COS perhaps. |
| 9 | ORCHARD - OR, CHARD = vegetable, def. here grows fruit. |
| 11 | PINKISH - (KINSHIP)*; def. of the soft left. |
| 13 | ABETTER - A, BETTER = improved; def. helper, as in 'aid and abet'. |
| 15 | TRUMPET - (Not very) cryptic definition. |
| 17 | DRAFT - Double definition. |
| 19 | DITTO - Do is an abbreviation for DITTO, meaning the same. The word comes from the Tuscan language, past tense of dire, meaning 'said'. The typographic " is used to represent it. |
| 21 | RAN - A (ace) in RN (Royal Navy, one of our services); def. managed. |