No 14422, Monday 03 Mar 2025, Bruno

Solution to 13D 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 solve, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS

1   Isolation of person and family trapped in liberal societies (10) LONELINESS {L}{ONE}{LINES}{S}

6   One's inclined to bring people up (4) RAMP [CD]

9   Downloads a bad smelly specimen (10) SANDALWOOD*

10 Open, switch hands, and run (4) FLEE F(-r+l)REE

12 Suspect witness aims to get sweetheart arrested - they need to be separated right away! (7,5) SIAMESE TWINS {WITNESS+AIMS}* over {swEet}

15 Husband and girl (French one) with a weapon (7) HANDGUN {H}{AND}{G}{UN}

16 Time wasted in depression almost always more difficult (7) ROUGHER {tROUGH}{'ER}

17 Dance record followed by one hundred thousand (7) ROLLICK {ROLL}{1}{C}{K}

19 Novice gridmaker cycles those in white squares (7) LETTERS {L}{(-s)ETTER(+s)S}

20 Slower than the best... it's secret? (3,3,6) OFF THE RECORD [DD]

23 Unacceptable to return, after hemming, posh coat (4) DAUB {B{U}AD<=}

24 Turn child on bed - else turning can result in haemorrhages (10) NOSEBLEEDS {SON<=}{BED+ELSE}*

25 Residual force yanks top off (4) REST wREST

26 Belatedly sad - after son's time of expiry (4-2,4) SELL-BY DATE {BELATEDLY}*<=>{S}

DOWN

1   Green and red, not blue (4) LUSH bLUSH

2   Time of day devoid of love and energy - not a bit (4) NONE {NOoN}{E}

3   Famous person - angel - hid guilt somehow, not for all to see (7,5) LEADING LIGHT {ANGEL+HID+GuILT}* 

4   Southern people follow contemporary TV personalities (7) NEWSMEN {S}{MEN}<=>{NEW}

5   Finance partners joining trail (7) SPONSOR {NS} in {SPOOR}

7   Politician finally boards a large boat for an extended period of work (3-7) ALL-NIGHTER {A}{L}{L{p...aN}IGHTER}

8   Force media Union to resist (10) PRESSURISE {PRESS}{U}{RISE}

11 Beginning to crumble, when surrounded by support, you finally fight back systematically (12) STRUCTURALLY {STRU{Cr...e}T}{yoU}{RALLY}

13 Fast food owner's on vacation - daughter's quicker to cover (5-5) ?H?R?-O?D?R (Addendum - SHORT-ORDER {SHORT{OwneR}{D}ER - See comments}

14 Crawling, falls on our ground (2,3,5) ON ALL FOURS*

18 Amateur artist with nothing, captured by kings, gets threats essentially, provides entertainment (7) KARAOKE {K}{A}{RA}{O}{K}{thrEats}

19 Milky yoghurt initially spurned by prowling alleycat (7) LACTEAL ALLEyCAT*

21 Fluid from ears, oozing (4) SERA*

22 One surrounded by water often dissolves (4) ISLE dIsSoLvEs

Reference List

Liberal = L, Societies = S, Husband = H, Girl = G, One in French = UN, Time = T, Hundred = C, Thousand = K, Novice = L, Posh = U, Son = S, Blue = B, Energy = E, For all to see = U, Amateur = A, Artist = RA, King = K