Crossword Genius

Friend initially meets composer outside European resort (4,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

palm beach

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'european resort' is the definition.
'palm beach' can be an answer for 'resort' (Palm Beach is a resort in Florida). I'm unsure of the 'european' bit.

'friend initially meets composer outside' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'composer outside' becomes 'beach' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letter of 'meets' is 'm'.
'pal'+'m'+'beach'='PALM BEACH'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for palm beach that I've seen before include "US resort" , "Florida resort" , "Florida tourist centre" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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