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Thanks Simon, I can't recall ever seeing it before either and it wasn't the first choice on Google Translate.

Thanks again Brendan.
I don’t know who the film star is though. Old actor?

Thanks FemmeNoire,

Yes, very much so - his career began around 1920 (some of his movies were silent) and lasted until the 1960's. One of his most famous was The General.

I’ve solved but can’t fully parse 43 dn. I have the Scottish isle but can’t equate the remaining letters with a cottage room. Is it just an obscure definition?

And another thing. I’ve counted and re-counted but can only find 37 clues which omit a theme word (or two). Is Maskarade counting the two theme word clue as two clues? Or have I missed something?

Otherwise, a very enjoyable challenge, and I can’t help feeling that chrise is missing out!

43d: Five letter Scottish island going up with three letter Scottish cottage room inside,

Thanks, mathi. I hadn’t realised that ‘Scottish’ applied to the cottage as well as to the island. Too obscure for me!

Any ideas about the clue count?

#I enjoyed this grid. Strangely, given that noone reports difficulties with this one, I am only stuck on 11d:
Welshman - young lad - was not cooperative.
R - E - T- D
Welshman makes me think of Rhys or Rees, but that doesn't seem to fit. Any hints please?

I think I got 21 across and 17 down clues as themed.

11d: last three letters are for young lad. Your second version is correct. It is an obscure Scottish word, according to Chambers.

Aha! Thanks again mathi. I had 21 wrong. I thought my solution was unsatisfactory (involving ‘man’ in the answer and giving it double duty in the clue), but I bunged it in anyway.