Crossword Genius

Beau takes hat off to crazy cat who can ham it up (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

overact

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'ham it up' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'beau takes hat off to crazy cat' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'cat' is 'act' which is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'over' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'who can' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for overact that I've seen before include "Be excessive on stage" , "Be unsubtle on stage" , "In part, fail to convince" , "Perform in an exaggerated manner" , "Play role exaggeratedly" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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