Crossword Genius

Old baddy leading men -- a fine speaker? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

orator

'a fine speaker?' is the definition.
(an orator is a public speaker)

'old baddy leading men' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'baddy' becomes 'rat' (rat can mean a bad person).
'leading' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'men' becomes 'OR' (military abbreviation for Other Ranks).
'o'+'rat'+'or'='ORATOR'

(Other definitions for orator that I've seen before include "One who holds forth" , "Eloquent public speaker" , "To roar at a speech-maker" , "Rhetorician" , "One making one across" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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