What remains strange about side playing United? (8)
I believe the answer is:
residuum
'what remains strange' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'side playing united?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'side' is 'esid' which is present in the answer.
'united?' could be 'u' (as in Man U, English football team) and 'u' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rum' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'about' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for residuum that I've seen before include "Something left after other parts have been removed" , "stuff left over" .)
