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 see how this works, but
'attend' could be 'beat' (to be at an event is to attend it) and 'beat' is located in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'match' could be 'bout' (I've seen this before) and 'bout' is found within the answer.
'land' could be 'us' (U.S. is an example) and 'us' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'or' acts as a 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" .)