Feels rough, so will start with The Irish Times, maybe (9)
I believe the answer is:
sandpaper
'feels rough' is the definition.
'sandpaper' can be an answer for 'rough' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'feels' bit.
'will start with the irish times maybe' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'with' could be 'and' and 'and' is found within the answer.
'times' could be 'paper' (the Times is a newspaper) and 'paper' is found in the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'so' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sandpaper that I've seen before include "Abrasive smoother" , "Abrasive sheet (DIY)" , "Material used for smoothing" , "Woodworker's abrasive" , "Make smoother" .)