Attend a match on sparsely settled land, or prevaricate? (4,5,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
beat about the bush
'prevaricate?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'attend a match on sparsely settled land' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'attend' could be 'beat' (to be at an event is to attend it) and 'beat' is present in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
'match' could be 'bout' (I've seen this before) and 'bout' is found in the answer.
'land' could be 'us' (U.S. is an example) and 'us' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beat about the bush that I've seen before include "not get to the point" , "Inconclusively discuss" , "Enter hedge" , "avoid getting involved" , "Prevaricate" .)