Bird, externally loud and malignant, having head bitten off - such as the roc? (10)
I believe the answer is:
fictitious
'malignant having head bitten off such as the roc?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'bird externally loud' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'bird' could be 'tit' (tit is a kind of bird) and 'tit' is present in the answer.
'loud' could be 'f' (short for forte - 'loud' in music) and 'f' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fictitious that I've seen before include "Invented" , "Make-believe" , "Imaginary" , "Not true" , "Mythical" .)