Hiya Syzzie,
Finished this last night and must say, what a superb crossword with many outstanding clues. This clue had me stumped for a while for the Def, but with the question mark, I thought it must have an &lit quality somewhere so I checked out the Shakespeare play King Lear and it's from a quote by Edmund in Act 1 Scene 2,
Enter EDGAR
"And pat he comes like the catastrophe of the old
Comedy: my cue is villanous melancholy, with a
Sigh like Tom o' Bedlam. O, these eclipses do
Portend these divisions! fa, sol, la, mi"
Hope that helps.
Favourite clue was 24d and think aristo would like it.
Here it is for anyone who aint got the crossword.
24d) Victim of John W B Adamson (4)
I feel this is in the writing realms of the peterm style, you have to follow the formula of how the clue works to find the answer Def to match.