Spectator 2430

[solidair123]

Help and explanations for these clues please. 24a Half of item Oscar Bach composed co???
44a Twit almost crushing institute's ornamental metalwork ?i???I
9d Serena declining to dry up for poet e?se??

[Lie-in King]

24a Cohab(iter; half of "item"; couple) - anag 'O(scar) Bach'

[Neveracrossword]

24 Cohab(itee), an item, a couple. (So over half of the word).

[Neveracrossword]

9 Ensear, dry up (poetic, anagram.)

[Neveracrossword]

44 Nielli, ornamental metalwork.

[Neveracrossword]

44. Nellie would have been the twit - take off the final 'e', so almost, and put in the I for institute. N I elli.

[Lie-in King]

44a Nielli - 'i(nstitute)' (in) 'nelli(e; twit, almost)

[solidair123]

Many thanks to you both.

[Neveracrossword]

Glad we could help, solidair. I see that Chambers gives both 'cohabitee' and 'cohabiter', so Lie-In King and I were both correct!

[teacher1]

29a. Thoughts please ....... raw or rat ?

[Neveracrossword]

Teacher, there was earlier discussion on that point. I went for Raw, thought it was a slightly cleverer reference - but other solvers preferred Rat.

[teacher1]

Thank you neveracrossword ....... I quite like raw ! ;o)