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17a The other brave naked national (7)
I?A?I?N
Iranian?

6d Make-up of Apple vessel theoretically announced (8)
Looks like 'eyeliner' but I'm not sure why, apart from a liner being a type of vessel.

I think the first one is ITALIAN.
IT “the other” + (v)ALIAN(t)

Probably ITALIAN. It is pretty standard in crosswords as a euphemism for sex, the other, and then (v)alian(t), brave naked.

All Apple products are i-something, (iPhone, iPad), so it’s a homophone for i-liner, I presume

If it was an Apple vessel - it might theoretically be an I LINER

Sorry jono, didn’t see your answer when I refreshed

Thank you.

18a Stick with these kids essentially somersaulting by steps (9)

It looks to be 'stilettos' but how does that work?

STILE is steps.
Tots (kids) with the middle letters somersaulting gives TTOS.

A dagger, so something you might stick (stab) with.

Thank you Jono. Aside from the use of such terminology in The Times, it seems that the definition ‘stick with these’ = stilettos. Oh dear …