A little son being important (10)

I believe the answer is:

smattering

'a little' is the definition.
(I know that little can be written as smattering)

'son being important' is the wordplay.
'son' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son).
'being important' becomes 'mattering'.
's'+'mattering'='SMATTERING'

(Other definitions for smattering that I've seen before include "Tiny amount (of knowledge)" , "bit of learning" , "Little bit" , "Hint" , "little knowledge" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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