Weekend Quick Cryptic 62 - Solution

My fellow TimesforTheTimes contributors Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce Quick Cryptic crosswords to fill the gap left by the Saturday Times not having one. The plan is for us to take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's my turn. The title may be a bit misleading. Before looking at the answers see if you can identify the theme and the 10 thematic answers.

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below. Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on TfTT. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

Before looking at the answers, if you would like some additional help, click the label below.

Hints...

Some hints and tips:

• The title is not a reference to the Vera Lynn song but the first line of a Shakespeare play.
• The 10 thematic answers are related to the characters and their lines in the play. See after the explanation of the answers for the sources.
• At 23A I could alternatively have located the relatives on the cliffs in East Sussex.
• Romeo is the NATO alphabet name for the letter R.
• You need to separate "place to go climbing" in 1D.

And click on this label to get the solution.

Solution and explanation of the answers...

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc,  {deletions} and [] other indicators.

Across

1 Wrongly wired? That's strange (5)
WEIRD – [Wrongly] (wired)*. An easy one to start.
4 Speak angrily about effect of lightning (7)
THUNDER – Double definition.
8 Policeman's proposal to arrest leaders of immigrant community (7)
OFFICER – OFFER (proposal) containing [to arrest] [leaders of] Immigrant Community.
9 Bouquets of new roses left by Romeo (5)
NOSES – N (new) {r}OSES without the R [left by Romeo; R in the NATO alphabet].
10 Heard actress Liz, being well-built, created pandemonium (5-5)
HURLY-BURLY – HURLY, sounds like [heard] the actress Liz HURLEY, BURLY (well-built).
14 Party served up blue drink (6)
DOUBLE – DO (party) [served up] (blue)*.
15 Rapid rise and fall in price of gas container (6)
BUBBLE – Double definition. Here’s to hoping the price of gas will fall again.
17 Anger badly handled on the whole (2,3,5)
BY AND LARGE – (anger badly)* [handled].
20 Free to fail, gaining nothing (5)
LOOSE – LOSE (fail) [gaining] O (0; nothing).
22 Problems for Russian currency after end of agreement (7)
TROUBLE – [end of] agreemenT, ROUBLE (Russian currency).
23 Family members, seven of them, found in North London station (7)
SISTERS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint referring to Seven Sisters in North London.
24 End relationship and leave suddenly (5)
SPLIT – Double definition.
 
Down
1 This is gathered while daydreaming about place to go climbing after onset of winter (4)
WOOL – LOO (place to go) [climbing] -> OOL, [after] first letter of, [onset of] , Winter. A reference to “wool-gathering”.
2 Knowledge held by mountain folk (4)
INFO – Hidden in, [held by], mountaIN FOlk.
3 Rising newspaper boss married then separated (9)
DECOUPLED – ED [newspaper boss] [rising] -> DE, COUPLED (married).
4 Department dealing with workers dipping into cash register for excitement (6)
THRILL – HR (department dealing with workers) inside, [dipping into], TILL (cash register).
5 Large vessel needs time to begin to change direction (3)
URN – A sort of reverse cryptic. Add T (time) to the start [to begin] of the answer -> TURN (change direction).
6 Give detailed account in words of the French writer (8)
DESCRIBE – DES (of the, in French) SCRIBE (writer).
7 Improved appearance of untidy place left covered in grass (8)
RESTYLED – STY (untidy place) L (left), [covered in] REED (grass).
11 Impulse to interrupt disapproving shout is typically middle-class (9)
BOURGEOIS – URGE (impulse) inside, [to interrupt], BOO (disapproving shout) IS.
12 Eccentrics seen in only red, green, blue or black? (8)
ODDBALLS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint referring to the odd-numbered snooker balls.
13 Caretakers list former policemen sent round before start of show (8)
CURATORS – ROTA (list) RUC (former policemen) [sent round] -> CUR ATOR, [start of] Show.
16 Succulent plant found around Connecticut (America) (6)
CACTUS – CA (about) CT (Connecticut) US (America).
18 Left off description "murder victim" (4)
ABEL – L (left) [off] {l}ABEL [description]. Brother and murder victim of Cain.
19 Went wrong identifying amphibian (4)
NEWT - (Went)* [wrong].
21 Look at your setter when speaking (3)
EYE – Sound like [when speaking] I (you setter).

As for the theme... the title relates to the first line of Macbeth 

"When shall we three meet again?", the characters being the three witches. The next line is 

"In THUNDER, lightning, or in rain?" (with LIGHTNING in the clue for THUNDER). And then "When the HURLY-BURLY’s done".

They are named in Scene Three as...

"The WEIRD SISTERS, hand in hand"...

The remaining references are from their chant in Scene One of Act IV when they circle the cauldron... 

"DOUBLE, double toil and TROUBLE;"

"Fire burn, and cauldron BUBBLE"

...

"EYE of NEWT and toe of frog,"

"WOOL of bat and tongue of dog"

Did you find them all?