It needs treatment, rough, for backing protocol row (7,3)
I believe the answer is:
sausage war
'rough for backing protocol row' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.
'it needs treatment' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'it' could be 'sa' (old-fashioned abbreviation for sex appeal) and 'sa' is present in the answer.
'treatment' could be 'usage' (I've seen this before) and 'usage' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'war' 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?
I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution?
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