Across
CHINESE PARSLEY
WARFARE
ABSINTH
ROUGHNECK
SHARD
EATERY
MENS ROOM
HICKS BAY
PATTON
RIDES
ARISTARCH
INUTILE
MR CLEAN
GAYLENE PRESTON
Down
HERAULT
NEAT-HERDS
STEVEN
PRANKLES
ROSES
LONG AGO
YEHUDI MENUHIN
WARREN HARDING
SPARTACUS
MATABELE
CADBURY
TORPEDO
DIMMER
SHINE

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Being extra dumb with this one, two answers I don’t fully understand. Guessed STEVEN for 4D and SHINE for 23D, but can’t see how they are derived, except SHINE is anag of HE’S IN, but the rest … ?
4D: Secret group is SEVEN (from Enid Blyton’s ‘Secret Seven’ books) – so T inside SEVEN is STEVEN
23D: SHINE is the name of a film with actor called Rush in it – films are sometimes described as ‘vehicles’ for the starring actors.
Kropotkin does seem very fond of old films – this one is relatively recent (1996) but some of his references go way back to the 40’s, well before my time 🙂 I rely on Google to confirm that such a film exists!