This had all I’ve come to expect from Dac.   Excellent flowing surface readings, clever misdirection, a very satisfying solve, with all understood in the end.    A bit tougher than usual, maybe partly because of one long phrase others may have been more familiar with than I was.

Solving time:    29 mins

* = anagram

Across

6 BAR in HOT     Tasmanian (Australia) port and capital

10 B + ER + LINER     “Royal” “cruise ship”  quite separate, though the surface reading misleadingly makes you think of them as one.    Good.

11 PRO O F READING     More skill with the definition/wordplay join coming between does and for in the seemingly smooth passage “Task editor does for nothing”.    Reading is a nice change from “up” for “at university”

15  AGENTS       N in (STAGE)*    The anagram indicator here, unusually, is a noun (production).      Johnathan Crowther (AZED) in his recent book has an passage on this, which I get closer to understanding each time I read it.     Like the proverbial preacher and sin, he is, I think, opposed.

17  CHEQUERS   Another great, misleading, surface suggesting winds blowing through a house.    It’s double definition, the game of draughts and the PM’s country residence.

22 SPIN + (phone)Y.       Nice to see those politicians held in such high regard.

23  PrOGRESSively     Hidden

24  STAKE “Steak” NET

DOWN

3  CHOCOLATE MOUSSE   (SCHOOL’S OUT CAME + “first in” Eurovision)*.    More masterly clueing with misleading context.

5   RIBBAND    I in BR (reversed) + BAND.      Did not know it could be spelt with 2 Bs which held me up, but indeed it can.

6  HERMITAGE    Got this eventually from the clever definition “One man’s place”.   It’s also the name of a wine which I did not know till checking, so it’s double definition.

7   BRING ME SUNSHINE   (IN NUMBER HE SINGS)*     I eventually worked this out from the anagram when I had enough crossing letters.     I’d a vague feeling I’d heard the phrase either in a song or ad slogan.     Many others will have known, I’m sure that it relates to Ernie Wise (the “Wise” in the clue) so again there’s great clueing e.g. the two meanings of “variety” one for the anagram and one for the show.

12  STEREO TYPE (Sort)

14  (Stephen) KING and (Henry) JAMES, I guess.      KING JAMES Bible.

18  LASSA.    (c)LASS A drug.    “Type of” suggesting a qualifier rather than the name of a drug.  

A puzzle with an overt theme, rather than one to be deduced, which gives a good illustration of the many different uses of ‘doctor’ in a puzzle. All the across clues and a couple of the downs contain the word. I counted four DRs, an MO and an MB,  one anagram indicator, two or three types of doctor, four named doctors and several other clues in which doctor was part of the definition. Help welcomed with 15Ac and 19dn.

ACROSS:

7. GR(IM)ACE. Ref cricketer Dr WG Grace (did he run a field hospital?) 

8. DR + AUGHT.

10. MEDICO. Mice do*.

11. OVERDRAW. O  REV< DR A W. I read ‘wants’ in crossword usage as meaning ‘lacks’. Here it means ‘has’. This seems like a case of having your cake and lacking it.  As Desmond Dekker said, you can’t always get what you want.

12. NO DI. Ref Dr No… assume this is the plural of some complication - is that a nodus, or just a node?

14. LIVING STONE. Def being ‘Doctor presumed’, which is nice.

19. Looks like it should be something like ‘PELIETERANS’. No idea. Is there a solver in the house?

22. OMEN. MO< (h)EN.

23. BELL (B1) DR<.

25. F(AUST)US(s). Ref Marlowe’s Dr Faustus.

26. DETAINS. INSTEAD*, ‘doctor’ as a verb in anag indicator.

DOWN:

1. FREEDOM. FR + E + MODE<. Good clue, sadly no doctor in sight.

2. U MB I(LI)CI.

3. AC  CO DR<. I like to think that, had it not been for the need to get a doc in here, there might have been a linkage between ‘cord’ and the previous clue! 

5. SUEDES. Cryptic def.

6. THEATRE. THE + RATE*.

9. COASTGUARDS. DRUGS COSTS A* + lit, but relying on dubious ‘mint’ as anag indicator.

15. Any offers?

18. REPAINT. REP AIN’T. I’d take issue with ‘isn’t in ignorance’ for AIN’T, which is a form used in various regional accents. Oh, you mean the standard English word is ‘isn’t'? Well, I never knew that, pardon my ignorance!