No 14514, Wednesday 18 Jun 2025, Dr. X

Solution to 11A 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   Cracked the quadratic equations on vacation - not hard, it's a thing one learns to like (8,5) ACQUIRED TASTE {ThE+QUADRIATIC+Eq...nS}*

8   See 10 Down

9   Healing mild acne developing over face of inmate (9) MEDICINAL {MILD+ACNE}* over {In...e}

11 Drug, mostly dope in nice resort giving satisfaction (10) I?D?L?E?C? (Addendum - INDULGENCE - {DULl}{GEN} in {NICE}* - See comments)

12 Hit hard and counterattack finally after century (4) TONK {c...cK}<=>{TON}

14 Low, flat cloud of importance, embodying onset of rains (7) STRATUS {ST{Ra..s}ATUS}

16 Upset by one addict knocking back drink (2,1,4) IN A FLAP {1}{FAN<=}{LAP}

17 Checkmate in one move, crushed by European master making a comeback (7) IMPASSE {1} and {PASS} in {E}{M}<=

19 Warn about most vigorous aquatic animal (7) NARWHAL{WARN*}{HALe}

21 Rebellious boy tackling British aristocrats (4) NOBS {S{B}ON<=}

22 Fish in pub with bit of dark rum in a cocktail (10) BARRAMUNDI {BAR}{Dark+RUM+IN+A}

25 Frenzied commotion about a noisy rave (9) DIONYSIAN {DI{A+NOISY}*N} &lit

26 Moving quickly, striving hard for victory (5) HYING (-v+h)HYING

27 Sexy, stylish model in hut with a roughneck? Extremely wild speculation (4,2,3,4) SHOT IN THE DARK {S{HOT}{IN}{T}HED}{A}{Ro...cK}

DOWN

2   Sample of enriched dark cheese (7) CHEDDAR [T]

3   Saving American breaking skull, hip, chest - ultimately difficult job (6,4) UPHILL TASK {A} in {SKILL+HIP+c..sT}*

4   Emir excited about atomic plant (5) RAMIE {R{A}MIE*}

5   Removal of director for primarily shocking corruption (9) DEDUCTION (-s+d)DEDUCTION

6   Piece of popular composition to be played with a bow (4) ARCO [T] 

7   Effort to secure popular, fine wrapping material (7) TINFOIL {T{IN}{F}OIL}

8   Ponder about son turning nine, getting a little defiantly touchy (4-7) THIN-SKINNED {THIN{S}K}{NINE*}{De...y}

10 & 8A Enjoy dentist's job? Very difficult to do (4,7,5) LIKE PULLING TEETH [C&DD]

13 Expressed disapproval and ran quickly to arrest bum on heroin (10) HARRUMPHED {HARED} over {RUMP}{H}

15 Angular unit of acceleration described by a nerd, it's complicated (9) STERADIAN {A} in {A+NERD+ITS}*

18 Start to praise choir boy playing classical music of the bagpipe (7) PIBROCH {Pr...e}{CHOIR+B}*

20 Run, hike, exercise to become more sexually attractive (7) HUNKIER*

23 Farm vehicle overturned outside new hotel (5) RANCH {C{N}AR<=}{H}

24 Indian peasant in yard surrounded by rubbish (4) RYOT {R{Y}OT} Interesting origins of the word

Reference List

Hard = H, European = E, Master = M, British = B, Victory = V, Stylish = IN, Model = T, American = A, Atomic = A, Director = D, Popular = IN, Son = S, Heroin = H, Acceleration = A, Boy = B, New = N, Hotel = H, Yard = Y