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8D Joining the team, act on gin mixture likely to befuddle
INTOXICATING

'Act on gin' gives all of the letters except X and the other two I's

How does 'Joining the team' fit in?

14D A number of clever ones can be defended
TENABLE
I can't work out how "A number of clever ones" fits in.

Ten (number) able (clever)

Into xi - joining the team (xi - eleven: a team)

XI = eleven in roman numerals
eleven is a crossword synonym for a team (football) 11 men

tenable = dended
ten + able

Ah, thank you Zozozo. I hadn't clocked that able = clever.

Then anagram of act gin

Thank you both for into XI!