No 14055, Tuesday 26 Dec 2023, Bruno

Solution to 20A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

1   Brit, oddly, wearing hat with zero passion (6) LIBIDO {LI{BrIt}D}{O}

4   Pieces of cubes, often, can be found around liquor (6) CRUMBS {CuBeS} over {RUM}

8   Southern Ossetia's leader caught between peace organizations with daughter is weak (7) UNSOUND {UN}{S}{Os...a}{UN}{D} Why Southern? (Addendum - {UN}{S}{Os...a}{UN}{D} - See comments)

9   Guts of soldier to sleep on a road! (7) GIZZARD {GI}{ZZ}{A}{RD}

11 Annoy old lover with separate arrangement (10) EXASPERATE {EX}{SEPARATE}*

12 Liberal black couple (4) LINK {L}{INK}

13 Virtues lacking tangible limits - that can be harmful (5) VIRUS VIRtUeS

14 Tailored suit - a boy's set (8) SITUATED {SUIT*}{A}{TED}

16 One that worships a procrastinator? (8) IDOLATER {I DO LATER}

18 Ditch absconding leader and expel (5) EJECT rEJECT

20 That might be delivered by personnel to office (4) ?O?T ()

21 Dedicate one's coins - mainly gathered on box (10) CONSECRATE CONSE{CRATE} Anno not clear (Addendum - {ONES+ Co..s}*{CRATE}* - See comments)

23 Devil spilled cold ink (3,4) OLD NICK*

24 Poison's name shown in serene mantra (7) ENVENOM {E{N}VEN}{OM}

25 One might blow off steam randomly. (6) GEYSER [CD]

26 Export aluminium-containing door (6) PORTAL [T]

DOWN

1   Student in University had unknown operating system (5) LINUX {L}{IN}{U}{X}

2   Mario's enemy carried river-surfing accessory (7) BROWSER {B{R}OWSER}

3   Surprisingly, TED talks finally covered interior kitchenware (6,3) DINNER SET {TED+t..kS}* over {INNER}

5   Artist is starting to expect higher salary (5) RAISE {RA}{IS}{Ex...t}

6   Second monster disowning God for 2D (7) MOZILLA {MO}{godZILLA}

7   Tough lineman's no good? (9) STRINGENT {STRING}{gENT}

10 Bad actors grunt sadly, being at a loss (9) HAMSTRUNG {HAMS}{GRUNT}*

13 "Give blood freely" - seen on YouTube? (5,4) VIDEO BLOG*

15 Article on one in Paris followed by leaders in Toulouse and Orleans, moreover (9) THEREUNTO {THE}{RE}{UN}{To...e}{Or...s}

17 New city vacated following recent delay (7) LATENCY {N}{CitY}<=>{LATE}

19 Sincere listener's home (7) EARNEST {EAR}{NEST}

21 Hiding place for money for auditors (5) CACHE (~cash)

22 Monster from LOTR prowling back of Rivendell (5) TROLL {LORT*}{r...lL}

Reference List

Daughter = D, Liberal = L, Name = N, Student = L< University = U, Unknown = X, River = R, Artist = RA, Second = MO< Good = G, One in French = UN, New = N