How many people solve the Times cryptic, theoretically? (2,5)
I believe the answer is:
on paper
'theoretically?' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'how many people solve the times cryptic' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'times' could be 'paper' (the Times is a newspaper) and 'paper' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'on' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for on paper that I've seen before include "Planned (in theory)" , "Where Times staff work" , "Theoretically" , "Hypothetically" , "Propane (anag.)" .)