Crossword Genius

Evans Head drunkard, Heather, shows abstruse matters (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

esoterica

'abstruse matters' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'evans head drunkard heather' is the wordplay.
'head' indicates taking the first letters.
'drunkard' becomes 'sot' (synonyms).
'heather' becomes 'erica' (the plant genus Erica includes heather plants).
The first letter of 'evans' is 'e'.
'e'+'sot'+'erica'='ESOTERICA'

'shows' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for esoterica that I've seen before include "Highly-specialised subjects" , "narrow fields" , "Mysterious items -- ciao trees (anag)" , "Mysterious objects" , "Highly specialised subjects" .)

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