About to get work following drunken circus act (9)
I believe the answer is:
tightrope
'circus act' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'about to get work following drunken' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'work' could be 'op' (abbreviation for opus) and 'op' is located in the answer.
'about' could be 're' (regarding) and 're' is present in the leftover letters.
'drunken' could be 'tight' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'tight' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tightrope that I've seen before include "Balancing act wire" , "Difficult thing to walk on" , "Acrobats perform on it, usually with safety net" , "Cable on which acrobatics are performed" , "An acrobat walks on this high above the ground" .)