Imitating Oscar performance provides some relief (10)
I believe the answer is:
mitigation
'some relief' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'imitating oscar performance' is the wordplay.
'oscar' becomes 'O' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'performance' indicates an anagram.
'imitating'+'o'='imitatingo'
'imitatingo' anagrammed gives 'MITIGATION'.
'provides' acts as a link.
(Another definition for mitigation that I've seen is " Plea for mercy".)
I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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