Thank you to Hoskins. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Relative laughter and wit mostly confused (8-2-3)
DAUGHTER-IN-LAW : Anagram of(… confused) [LAUGHTER AND + “wit” minus its last letter(mostly) ].
8. Belt everyone gets in Mississippi shopping centres (5,5)
STRIP MALLS : STRIP(a belt/a long narrow piece of material such as leather or cloth) + [ ALL(everyone) contained in(gets in) MS(abbrev. for the US state of Mississippi) ].
Defn: In North America, … located on a busy main road.
9. A man with first sign of mould-induced cough (4)
AHEM : A + HE(third-person pronoun for a man) plus(with) 1st letter of(first sign of) “mould“.
Defn: Noise similar to a cough produced/induced to attract attention.
10. American kills posh people without right ultimately (4)
OFFS : “toffs”(posh people/upper-class persons) minus last letter of(without … ultimately) “right“.
Defn: American slang to eliminate someone.
11. Out-of-control rabbit mauled a horologer (10)
LOGORRHOEA : Anagram of(mauled) A HOROLOGER.
Defn: …/incessant talk about trivial things, aka “verbal diarrhoea”.
12. Connoisseurs swallowing large lies (6)
BLUFFS : BUFFS(connoisseurs/appreciators of) containing(swallowing) L(abbrev. for “large”).
14. Nurse goes off to collect old implants (7)
ENROOTS : EN(abbrev. for “enrolled nurse”, a grade of nursing assistant) + ROTS(goes off/decays) containing(to collect) O(abbrev. for “old”).
15. Fruit of month not entirely firm, having touch of tenderness (7)
APRICOT : “Aril”(the 4th month in the calendar year) minus its last letter(not entirely) + CO(abbrev. for “company”, a commercial firm) plus(having) 1st letter of(touch of) “tenderness“.
18. Information gathered by a vacuous city bureau (6)
AGENCY : GEN(informal term for “information”) contained in(gathered by) [ A + “city” minus all its inner letters(vacuous …) ].
20. Doctor cries out to green holidaymaker (3-7)
ECO-TOURIST : Anagram of(Doctor) CRIES OUT TO.
Defn: …, one who goes on a holiday designed to damage the environment as little as possible.
21. British express disapproval about gaffe (4)
BOOB : B(abbrev. for “British”) + reversal of(… about) BOO(to express disapproval/make a sound showing disapproval).
Defn: …/an embarrassing mistake.
22. Indian Melody Maker paper article (4)
RAGA : RAG(paper, specifically a newspaper considered of poor quality) + A(article in grammar).
Defn: In Indian classical music, a melodic framework for improvisation.
23. Support city welcoming Republican movement a swimmer might start? (10)
BACKSTROKE : BACK(to support/to champion) + STOKE(short for Stoke-on-Trent, city in Staffordshire, England) containing(welcoming) R(abbrev. for “Republican”, a member of the Republican Party).
Start of a backstroke event:
24. Awfully old idea Met man’s run by men? (4-9)
MALE-DOMINATED : Anagram of(Awfully) OLD IDEA MET MAN.
Down
1. Obedient duke you almost argue with close to Malibu lake (7)
DUTIFUL : D(abbrev. for “duke”) + U(abbrev. for “you” in texting) + “tiff”(to argue/to have a alight disagreement with) minus its last letter(almost …) plus(with) last letter of(close to) “Malibu” + L(abbrev. for “lake”).
2. Parasite infecting American military groups (5)
UNITS : NIT(a young form of a parasitic insect) contained in(infecting) US(abbrev. for things American).
3. Unusual bush elm makes appear small? (7)
HUMBLES : Anagram of(Unusual) BUSH ELM.
4. Poem primarily evoking country life of good utopian existence? (7)
ECLOGUE : 1st letters, respectively, of(primarily) “evoking country life of good utopian existence“.
Defn: … on a pastoral subject/about country life, as the clue says.
5. Underwriter certain to be taken on by hip head of recruitment (7)
INSURER : SURE(certain/doubtless) contained in(to be taken on by) [ IN(hip/in fashion) + 1st letter of(head of) “recruitment” ].
6. Odious bunch around a house eating seconds (9)
LOATHSOME : LOT(a bunch/a set of similar things) containing(around) A + HOME(house/one’s residence) containing(eating) S(abbrev. for “seconds” in time notation).
7. Footballer dropping head could make folk tearful! (7)
WEEPERS : SWEEPER(footballer positioned behind the main defenders but in front of the goalkeeper) with its 1st letter sent to its end(dropping head, in a down clue).
13. Soldiers in new airlift will get access to blaze in Oz? (4,5)
FIRE TRAIL : RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, a unit of soldiers in the British military) contained in(in) anagram of(new) AIRLIFT.
Defn: In Oz/Australia, a track through the bush used by firefighters to get to fires.
15. A conservative assertion gets much praise (7)
ACCLAIM : A + C(abbrev. for a Conservative, a member of the Conservative Party) + CLAIM(an assertion that something is true).
16. Nightspot with live band at last hit with staff? (7)
CLUBBED : CLUB(a nightspot/an establishment playing dance music) plus(with) BE(to live/to exist) + last letter of(… at last) “band“.
Defn: …/club.
17. Type of engine in Ford model Triumph briefly advanced (4-3)
TWIN-CAM : T(former model of a car made by Ford) + WIN(a triumph/a success) + “came”(advanced/approached) minus its last letter(briefly …).
Defn: … with two camshafts.
18. Craftsperson is prejudiced, having dismissed Penny (7)
ARTISAN : “partisan”(prejudiced/biased in support of one party/side versus another) minus(having dismissed) “p”(abbrev. for “penny” a unit of English currency).
19. Republican gets roasted about being corrupt (7)
CROOKED : R(abbrev. for a Republican, a member of the Republican Party) contained in(gets … about) COOKED(roasted/cooked in an oven or over a fire).
21. Pop hit from America covering Queen (5)
BURST : BUST(in America, to hit/strike violently) containing(covering) R(abbrev. for “Regina”/Queen).
Defn: …/break open suddenly and violently, as a balloon might.
Found the puzzle light and enjoyable. Thanks, Hoskins!
The blog is neat, colourful and fitting the standards of a scchua’s blog. Thanks, scchua!
Exactly as KVa@1 said. AHEM is my favourite. Thanks both.
Harry in a more restrained mood I thought but still good fun.
I liked LOGORRHOEA, BOOB and AHEM in particular.
Many thanks Hoskins and scchua.
This was good fun as usual despite being more restrained as SL said @3. I was pleased to see the American indicator in 10a. However, I think there should also be one for the answer to 8a, although some could argue that Mississippi, by doing double duty, would suffice.
I’ve never heard of LOGORRHOEA before, but some might say that I’m an out-of-control rabbit.
BOOB and AHEM were my top two.
Many thanks to Hoskins and to to scchua.
The nina does say “sober maybe”.
There’s also “I’m” across the central unches so maybe the full nina is “I’m sober maybe”, and maybe we should have an explanation from Hoskins, to whom many thanks for a most enjoyable puzzle and to Scchua for the blog.
Thanks both. Mostly very straightforward however I had only partial confidence in the existence of STRIP MALLS and much though I like the definition for LOGORRHOEA if I have seen it before the spelling was always likely to take more than one attempt
Perhaps the Nina does indeed explain Harry’s apparent restraint when setting this one!
I hadn’t previously encountered the technical term for verbal diarrhoea – shame that both terms are as difficult to spell, and confess that STRIP MALLS was a ‘guess then confirm’.
I’ll go with the flow and nominate AHEM and BOOB for the top spots.
Thanks to Hoskins and to scchua for the review.
Thanks, Hoskins and scchua. Mamu smiles here but the definition for LOGORRHOEA in particular is superb – no idea why a rabbit would be mauling a watch-maker though. Symptom of myxomatosis, perhaps?
*many not mamu. Damn autocorrupt.
How on earth does “many” get autocorrected to “mamu”? The wonders of technology. I recently found i could turn off autocorrect in my iPad Safari settings whilst leaving “spellchecker” on. (It didn’t correct the i in the last sentence to I and I decided to leave it.)
Widdersbel @9: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_of_Caerbannog