Its a reference to The Goilden Hind I do believe and a very tortuous one at that. Well I have a pretty rubbish one that isn't quite right but I reckon could be gotten away iwth in an iffy puzzle :- Digitally enhance fringes (7) and two old favorites from the guardian :- HIJKLMNO (5) They meet for lunch (5)[_ _ _ T _]
Not quite Golden Hind. Gold = Or, Giving Or hind ran CE the rest is obvious of course. What about (a) and (c) I thought (a) was particularly straightforward.