A typical balanced Rufus opus with sensible surfaces and no cryptic definition overdose. And pleasantly not a rugby reference in sight. My last clue was 24A since my only exposure to opera so far has been via this medium.
Across
| 9 | ARM,AD(ILL)O |
| 10 | ETHER=there* – anag &lit referring what puts you out at the dentist (well, once upon a time). |
| 11 | TEN,ANTS – “in occupation” refers to where they live, not what they do. |
| 14 | PEN,NILE,SS – our river is the NILE and our steamer is SS. |
| 16 | QUESTION MASTERS – indeed a good answer to the question “what should obedient servants never do?” |
| 19 | EARTHWARD – (hard water)* |
| 21 | BA,THE – slightly subtle since our Bacheor is of the Arts in this case. |
| 22 | BIRETTA – (a bitter)* – Catholic headgear and must be beer in some European language I would think, providing an &lit feel. |
| 24 | MELBA – ref. the opera singer Nellie MELBA (only ever met by me in crypticland). |
| 25 | DE(FAULT)ER – FAULT in rev(reed). |
Down
| 2 | AM(ENA)BLE |
| 3 | O,DENSE – Danish port |
| 5 | HOPPING MAD – amusing cryptic def |
| 6 | NEAR MISS – nice clue since NEAR is “mean” (in the stingy sense) and MISS is “error”. |
| 8 | [m]ORAL – m for “marks”, which is dropped from MORAL for “proper” to get a type of exam. |
| 14 | PROPAGANDA – (OAP, Grandpa)* — the only weakish surface in this set of clues. |
| 15 | SUSPENDERS – yes, that’s what braces are called here. |
| 17 | TA(HITIA)N |
| 18 | ENTR(EAT)Y |
| 20 | RA,RELY- RA is our Royal Academician (aka an artist) again. |
| 21 | BASQUE – turns out it’s a kind of bodice as well. |
| 22 | BUMP[kin] – nice clue: at first I had BEAT[nik] but I couldn’t reverse nik. |
| 23 | IFFY – first letters. Nice clue — though acrostics must be slightly easier to construct given the minimal constraints. |
Never having heard of the place, I was defeated by 3 down.