Like barbershop, the creation of R Smythe Fitzgerald (1,8)
I believe the answer is:
a cappella
'like' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'barbershop the creation of r smythe fitzgerald' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'fitzgerald' could be 'ella' (I've seen this before) and 'ella' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a cappella that I've seen before include "Palace pal in unaccompanied song" , "Palace pal singing without musical accompaniment" , "Unaccompanied singing" , "not accompanied" , "type of singing" .)