15 across: Dean’s venue resolved endless bickering (3-4)
It was only with the help of cross clues that we realised that endless bickering = ickering and resolved endless bickering = ice-rink. But even though we got this out, we left Il Fornaio nonplussed by Dean’s venue = ice-rink. Later that day, though, I was driving down Hotham Street approaching Inkerman when it hit me: Torville and Dean were ice skaters! And Dean’s venue for ice-rink really is a nasty direct clue.
20 across: Veteran journo blooms after holy oil (5, 7)
Cross clues came to the rescue again so that we could get Christ Masters = veteran journo. What wasn’t so obvious, and what only Google has been to help me out with, is that chrism is another word for holy oil and that aster is a genus of flowering plants.
re 15 across: this is an anagram of endless bickering i.e. minus “b” and “g” then reorder for “ice-rink”