Soup on vacation extremely chilled, or extremely chillied? (8)

I believe the answer is:

spiciest

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'extremely chillied?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'soup on vacation extremely chilled' is the wordplay.
'on vacation' suggests removing the centre (after the inside letters have vacated the word).
'extremely chilled' becomes 'iciest' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'soup' with its middle taken out is 'sp'.
'sp'+'iciest'='SPICIEST'

'or' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for spiciest that I've seen is " Most seasoned - try it with Pisces".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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