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Making a speech, maybe Ted's out to clear the air (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tirade

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'air' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'making a speech maybe ted's out to clear' is the wordplay.
'making a speech maybe' becomes 'tir' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'out to' becomes 'dead set' (synonyms).
'clear' is a deletion indicator.
'deadset' with 'teds' taken away is 'ade'.
'tir'+'ade'='TIRADE'

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tirade that I've seen before include "Furious denunciation" , "Sustained abuse" , "Verbal outburst" , "Stream of invective" , "String of invectives" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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