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Times Cryptic 24109 - two failures in the same puzzle!
Not doing very well with this one at all.

14D has letters A - T - T - N - S - and the clue reads
"Sagacity a head displayed, admitting southern student briefly".
My answer was ASTUTENESS.
"a head" = A NESS
"southern" = S
That leaves "student briefly" = TUTE,
which I don't follow, so have I got it wrong elsewhere?

17D has letters A - B - I - T - A and the clue reads
"Plant - Beardsley almost collected one on Taiwan, oddly".
My answer was AUBRIETIA.
"Beardsley almost" = AUBR
"one" = I
That leaves "Taiwan oddly" = ETIA,
which again I don't follow, so doubt have it wrong here too!

Hi times_addict,

I'm sure you're correct with the first answer but I cannot see the wordplay...

I think the second one is also correct:
Beardsely almost = AUBRE collecting I and then TIA are the first, third and fifth letters from Taiwain...

Chambers gives "tutee" as someone who is tutored, so - tute is tutee briefly

SimonG: Aha! I was taking "oddly" as indicating an anagram. Now it all makes sense.

AJT: I must get a new dictionary; none of mine listed "tutee".

Many thanks to both of you for putting me out of my misery.

I am constantly championing Chambers - the best for cryptic crosswords. Mine gets so dog-eared that I usually treat myself to each new edition - every five years, I think. There's a confession!

Yes, most word puzzles seem to specify Chambers too.
Just repaired a torn page in my 40-year old edition!