I rather liked this. Not sure I have blogged Des before, but this one has a certain wit about it and certainly raised a few smiles. At one point I thought there was a very cruel Nina appearing, with row 1 looking like it was going to spell 'HOWZAT", which certainly would have triggered ex-fans of cr**ket like myself. Maybe Des is from New Zealand. Anyway, this was perhaps more challenging than the average quickie, by virtue of some of the wordplay and some nicely disguised surfaces. Lots of favourites 12a, 23a, 3d, 4d. 8 minutes.
| Across | |
| 7 | Hum as vet reassembles what’s needed (4-4) |
| MUST-HAVE - anagram ('reassembles') of HUM AS VET | |
| 8 | A head teacher’s content (4) |
| EACH - hidden word tEACHer | |
| 9 | Disregard sign with no start, or end of message (6) |
| IGNORE - (S)IGN + OR + E (end of 'message') | |
| 10 | One unsuccessful in different roles (5) |
| LOSER - anagram ('different') of ROLES | |
| 11 | Small marsupial tailed black bird (3) |
| ROO - Black bird is ROOK, 'tailed'. | |
| 12 | Area by railway where air travel the norm? (6) |
| AVIARY - A (area) + VIA (by) + RY (railway on OS maps) | |
| 14 | Initially trite and wholly uninteresting, becoming cheap and tacky (6) |
| TAWDRY - TAW (inititials of TRITE AND WHOLLY) + DRY (uninteresting) | |
| 16 | Left one in short dress to dance about (6) |
| FROLIC - L + I inside FROC(K) (short dress) | |
| 18 | Tiny amphibian of mine can be heard (6) |
| MINUTE - sounds like MY NEWT | |
| 19 | Drooled off and on, finding caviar (3) |
| ROE - alternate letters of DROOLED | |
| 20 | Bother filling bag (groan) (5) |
| AGGRO - another hidden word bAG GROan | |
| 21 | Stones a couple of bishops breaking the law (6) |
| RUBBLE - BB (two bishops) inside RULE | |
| 23 | Pulse started, heart failing (4) |
| BEAN - Started is BEGAN, with its heart (G) absent. Nice | |
| 24 | Plant scientist into bats, surprisingly (8) |
| BOTANIST - anagram ('surprisingly') of INTO BATS | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Was threatening, like a drunk the following morning? (4,4) |
| HUNG OVER - double definition. | |
| 2 | German, maybe teetotaller, going in circles (4) |
| OTTO - Teetotaller is TT inside OO (circles) | |
| 3 | We try a shot that’s far from neat (6) |
| WATERY - anagram ('shot') of WE TRY A. Very nice. | |
| 4 | Fanatic from Zimbabwe’s outside often (6) |
| ZEALOT - Zimbabwe's outside is ZE, A LOT is often. | |
| 5 | Whingers unsettled composer (8) |
| GERSHWIN - anagram ('unsettled') of WHINGERS | |
| 6 | Small vehicle making permanent mark (4) |
| SCAR - S + CAR | |
| 13 | Claiming everything, for example, is about spirit (8) |
| ALLEGING - ALL + EG 'about' GIN | |
| 15 | Harshdescription of defective Old Testament? (8) |
| RUTHLESS - nice double definition. | |
| 17 | Old singer troubled by score endlessly (6) |
| CROSBY - anagram ('troubled') of BY SCOR ('score endlessly'). Did Bing sing Gershwin? I guess he must have. | |
| 18 | Values customer, it seems, in part (6) |
| MERITS - hidden word: custoMER IT Seems | |
| 20 | Article we picked up again (4) |
| ANEW - article is AN, 'we' picked up is EW | |
| 22 | Small boy exited finally, giving bow (4) |
| BEND - BEN is a small boy. Or he could be. Or maybe it's a small word for boy. One of these crossword tropes that's never quite explained. Whatever. + D ('exited' finally) | |