A grid by Methuselah this morning.
A pleasant, well crafted and (for me) generally straightforward offering from our setter, with the glaring exception of 21 across. If I live to 500 years I don’t think I’m going to get this one. Very much looking forward to enlightenment from the comments!
Thanks to Methuselah for the entertainment.
Definitions are underlined
ACROSS
Chant [SING] with wings [first and last letters] the wrong way round
Anagram [“strangely”] IRIDESCENT
Arms [GUNS] on the counter [reversed]
Foreign team [INTER (Milan)] – one [ME] Zinedine Zidane oversaw originally [first letters of = ZZO]
Methuselah will [I’LL] use shortly [US] … is one briefly [IS ONE] taken in [inside]
Cryptic clue. Sirens used by the police when on blue light runs on the roads
Sheep [TUP] following that bloke [HE]
Back in saddle [last letter of = E], a pair of bachelors [B B]
Dog’s half-cut [SETTER] after two drops of beer [BEER]
See introduction
Anagram [“about”] RARE CATCH
Spaniard’s [Spanish words for] house [CASA] white [BLANCA]
Knocked back [reversed] whole [SUM] band [O]
Upon sled, somehow [anagram = SELOUND] fitting every other bit of globe alternate letters [=LB] in
Nordic people missing their capital [FINNS]
DOWN
Penning [around] article [A], cancel [ANNUL]
Anagram [“spoiled”] BEDSIT
Swindles [SCAMS] bringing in [around] very little money [P]
Unknown [Z] uniform [U] seen in upsetting [anagram] programme’s [SERIES]
Palindrome. Reference to Otto Von Bismarck
Woman from 25A [ILSA] doing a turn [reversed] during gig that is occasionally lacking [GIG THAT IS]
Exhausted religious viewership [ RELIGIOUS VIEWERSHIP]
Homophone [“when read aloud”] outstanding = OWED
No [NO] 10 [IO] tears into [inside] doughnut [TORUS]
Hidden word [“some”] SEETHE AS HE STROKES
Smiles [BEAMS] when leaving [remove] M&S
Stuck-up [reversed] old Stockholm-born actress failing to finish [GARBO]
Different [anagram of] meal [=EALM] when doctor [MB] intervenes [inside]
Working [ON] after century [C] some hope? [RAY]
Cryptic clue
Husband’s [H] in a better place [CASINO] new [N]
Homophone [“caught”] bouquet = SCENT
In 21ac, the group found among cabbages is ABBA, the members of which are SWEDEs.
I agree with bill_poster@1 about 21a, but I only worked it out a while after writing it in.
There is an Ingrid Bergman theme. Obviously her character Ilsa in CASABLANCA is referred to in 7d, but she also appeared in INDISCREET, INTERMEZZO, SPELLBOUND, GASLIGHT and NOTORIOUS. Spotting this may have made it harder to think of the right Stockholm-born actress for 20d.
Thanks, Leedsclimber and Methuselah.
She also appears elsewhere, hint hint.
Born and died on this day in history.
No problem with SWEDE (as @1), but never heard of SNUG as somewhere in pub. Is it some kind of lounge area?
What a beautiful theme.
Getting that Dexter’s Bend in, as Mev called it, plus all the long film titles, I would have said impossible. Claps.
Re 10(ac), the author Sally Rooney’s unknown to me, so the clue wasn’t that enjoyable.
19(d), BEA, am I missing something clever, or is just, “hey, here’s a random female name?” . If so, not very good.
25(d), “squeeze” = CASH IN ON…. does it?
20(d), the def is “show off”, I think.
End of the day, a nicely-put-together puzzle, which I enjoyed.
Thanks to Meth & LC
In case anyone is mystified by my hint @3, I’m referring to a nina.
@bill_poster #1
So straightforward and yet I could not see it for the looking!
Congratulations Hovis @3&8, excellent spot! Even after the hint it took me a while.
For once I worked out the theme before the finish, still had to come here for MUSO – would have stared at that all day and not twigged.
Snugs I remember, along with Ladies’ bars. Not too many pubs had them even back in the seventies, small partitioned areas with bar access but relative privacy.
Thanks to both S and B
To add to the appreciation of SWEDE, turnips and swedes are also members of the brassica family making it a clue as definition.
A snug is a segregated area within a pub for privacy. The snug in Rovers Return on Coronation Street is the most memorable.
Thanks both. Enjoyable in the main, with parsing evading me in female forms, namely Isla in GASLIGHTS, Ms Rooney of INTERMEZZO being unknowns, and BEA was unconvincing as a niche moniker, but it was evidently needed to complete the diagonal, who incidentally I need to insist was before my time.