No 14572, Monday 25 Aug 2025, Hypatia

Solution to 23A 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   Essentially leaving in vehicle for elite food (6) CAVIAR {C{leAVIng}AR}

4   Convicted criminal regularly seen in parties soon met Republican (8) PRISONER {PaRtIeS+sOoN+mEt}{R}

9   Chase American university to admit son in daughter's place (6) PURSUE PUR(-d+s)SUE

10 Birds quarrel before fights (8) SPARROWS {SPAR}{ROWS}

11 Pedestrian classification of Vande Bharat Express, for one (4-5,5) HIGH-SPEED TRAIN {PEDESTRIAN}* [RA]

13 Upgrades bookmaker for Spooner (4,6) GETS BETTER (bets getter to gets better)

14 Say, queen taking fine meat (4) BEEF {BEE}{F}

16 Swindle in shares cornering Asian markets, initially (4) SCAM Acrostic

18 Starter of rice in hot meal is cooked with temperature kept constant (10) ISOTHERMAL {Rice} in {HOT+MEAL+IS}*

21 Proposal helping to onboard million workers in European firm at Germany (14) RECOMMENDATION {RATION} over {M}{MEN}in {E}{CO}{D}

23 Bar for one, replacing leading advocate in practice (8) P?O?I?I? (Addendum - PROHIBIT {PRO}{H(-a+1)IBIT} - See comments)

24 Cheetah in India eating sesame dip (6) TAHINI [T]

25 Reportedly criticize authors in hand out (8) DISPENSE {~dis pens)

26 Girl at city checking hot skirt (6) GHAGRA {G}{H}{AGRA}

DOWN

1   Manage children outside park entrance, basically (4) COPE Acrostic

2   Opinion of ancient Sanskrit scriptures about right time (7) VERDICT {VE{R}DIC}{T}

3   American bachelor at Dubai working outside hot capital city (3,5) ABU DHABI {A}{B}{UD{H}ABI*}

5   Discourage wasting time on the counter packing gift displayed (11) REPRESENTED {DEtER<=} over {PRESENT}

6   King in clutches of evil goblin (6) SPRITE {SP{R}ITE}

7   Airplane on a terminal carrying latest arrival (7) NEONATE [T]

8   Bitter criminal enters Gulf? Not good! (9) RESENTFUL {ENTERS+gULF}*

12 Specialist bakeries repeatedly re-using ingredients in parties (11) PATISSERIES {PARTIES}* [Letter Bank]

13 Creature's tail twisted squeezing tight old strap (9) GASTROPOD {DOG<=} over {O+STRAP}*

15 Source of irritation in the exact area so frequently getting hard (4,4) HEAT RASH {tHe+ExAcT+aReA+So}{H} Is would have been better than so to maintain the frequent pattern

17 Devices to secure TV show hosts (7) ANCHORS [DD]

19 Low crew typing up a boat (7) MOORING {MOO}{RING} Typing seems to be a typo for tying

20 This referee hates ordering pushier team (6) UMPIRE {UMPIRE+HATES}*=PUSHIER TEAM

22 Upcoming, keen star (4) DIVA<=

Reference List

Republican = R, Son = S, Daughter = D, Fine = F, Million = M, European = E, Germany = D, Girl = G, Hot = H, Right = R, Time = T, American = A, Bachelor = B, King = R, Good = G, Old = O, Hard = H