Bail out a mostly wicked pantomime character (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
ali baba
'pantomime character' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bail out a mostly wicked' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
an anagram of 'bail' is 'alib' which is located in the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ba' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ali baba that I've seen before include "Poor woodcutter and cave opener" , "Pantomime hero at odds with 40 thieves" , "1001 Nights hero" , "Folk hero associated with the Forty Thieves" , "One associated with forty thieves" .)