Thanks @tpgrammar.bsky.social! Inspired by your call for more 'cryptic fiction' (though maybe not a "real expert") I've had another go ...

Once upon a time, near Lake Ontario, a funny thing occurred: initially ... (4,3)

Read on at the fab @mycrossword.co.uk: www.mycrossword.co.uk/mini/169

Given the surface you'd think "in the auditorium" would be the go-to indicator

Is it the cruciverbalist's favourite cuckoo? 😜

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Maybe something with DEMON*? "Working girl turned into cow by angry demon ..." (if it's an Across clue for the "by") ... a def is quite tough though!

hmm the brackets there disrupt the "DOMEnica half-dead" I'd say, just commas would work (but not the "near" link!) The ONIO bit is very nice though 🙂

Yeah it took me a while to be convinced by "with" *both* ways but I think it does the job as either def "having" wp, or wp "presenting" def. But neither in sense of "alongside". (And not really bi-directional - like "and", say - so wouldn't like double-def "def1 with def2")

"... made out casually"?

Nice ... but surely the "Olympic honcho" in the 'What got you stumped' section is Seb COE = CO as a homophone. Not only is CO as "commanding officer" a huge stretch as "Olympic honcho", it'd make the homophone something like "WIL-SEE-OH"!

Oh yes "musical lady" would be fine I think, she's definitely that - but I think you'd need to be careful that "crazy" specifically applies to the upper-case stage name (whether Beefheart could be *just* a lower-case "captain", I'm less sure!)

I guess it's arguable, but the key reference here is to the capitalised stage name - "crazy" would be unfair unless applying to the particular stage persona (else we could be looking for any lower-case "lady" with potentially offensive "crazy") ... I reckon the Captain similarly needs a capital too.

Just to emphasise any possible confusion 🙂

Nice ... does Lady need capitalising though?

Muzzle = gag, as @simonpegg.bsky.social (not *that* Mr Pegg, btw!) explains

Presumably El Sereno (Oldie), Orense (FT) - Jeremy Mutch

Yeah, I'd *personally* prefer something on those lines, but as "Gujurati leader" does literally mean "leader of/from Gujarat" I guess it's ok/justifiable in a whimsical way even if a two-step process ... if it had been "Great leader ..." that would be another matter!

(Actually I'll withdraw any objection to 1d ... not keen on that G but justifiable especially given the super surface)

Mutch fun, indeed. Not sure what the "from" is doing in 25a, past tense "surrounded" a tad jarring in 13a, and the first synonym in 1a seems more than a stretch to me. And though lovely surface and 'gettable', I'm not *quite* convinced by 1d. But v minor pedantry, great stuff overall!