Bower is covering earl in shade (7)
I believe the answer is:
violist
'earl in shade' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'bower is covering' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'is' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for violist that I've seen before include "member of quartet" , "One bowing" , "String player" , "member of orchestra" .)
