Crossword Genius

Importance of hams, pies, bananas (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

emphasis

'importance' is the definition.
(emphasis is a kind of importance)

'hams pies bananas' is the wordplay.
'bananas' indicates an anagram (informal term for mad).
'hams'+'pies'='hamspies'
'hamspies' with letters rearranged gives 'EMPHASIS'.

'of' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for emphasis that I've seen before include "Stress, accentuation" , "Force" , "Stress or significance" , "Intensity of expression" , "Weight" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times (Crosaire) and the Irish Times.
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