Crossword Genius

Gossip article few chat luridly about (4,3,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chew the fat

'gossip' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'article few chat luridly about' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'article' could be 'the' (the 'definite article' part of speech) and 'the' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'few' is 'ewf' which is located in the left over letters.
'about' could be 'c' (abbreviation for 'circa') and 'c' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'hat' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for chew the fat that I've seen before include "Jack Sprat wouldn't" , "Chat leisurely (colloq.), hatchet few (anag.)" , "Mrs Sprat liked to" , "Chat leisurely; the few chat (anagram)" , "Chat casually" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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