Herald

[dave1948]

Quite a few to do
23a Tick 'relief' tha,t beef's cleaner (8)
??P?C?E?

15a David's champion to wrap it up knocking over a bail (7)
?S?B???

9a Israel has, it follows, a sound backing with university's input (6)
?E?L??

[dave1948]

Have these defeated everybody ?

Here's a couple more which might help
3d Desert place's hard to find following a kind of code (4)
?I??

14d Special forces quickly reach Siegfried Line, he wrote (and more!)
(7) ???S???

[dave1948]

23a Could it be Oxpecker ?

[aelmpvw]

14d sassoon

[elliemay1]

14 Sassoon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon

[aelmpvw]

oxpecker looks good

[dannyk13]

14d.( Siegfried )Sassoon- SAS + soon (quickly)

[dave1948]

Thank you ael
23a is now O?P?C?E?
so ox *** it must be

15a is
?S?B?A?

[elliemay1]

^ Sas (special forces) +soon (quickly)

[dave1948]

Lot of contributors need to be thanked
23a is Oxpecker.
Still 3 to do 9a, 3d and 15a

[Neveracrossword]

25 Ishbaal, a supporter of Biblical David.

[Neveracrossword]

...that was meant to be 15, sorry.

[Mamyalynne]

3 Ziph - Biblical desert.

Zip (code) + H (Hard)

[Neveracrossword]

9 Beulah?

I didn't realise this was from the Catholic Herald, which makes all the religiousy answers more probable!

[dave1948]

Thank you Never a Crossword for an excellent answer
2 left
9a Israel has, it follows, a sound backing with university's input (6)
?E?L??
3d Desert's place's hard to find following a kind of code (4)
?I??
Both words share last letter

[Mamyalynne]

Beulah looks right.

[Neveracrossword]

Dave, those have just been answered/suggested - the posts probably crossed.

[dave1948]

Just seen Beulah and Ziph and they fit. May thanks it's finished

[dave1948]

Thank you Nevera crossword. I was typing and it is playing up