Crossword Genius

Perfume overwhelming initially, Chanel choking pensioner gradually (4,1,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

poco a poco

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'gradually' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'perfume overwhelming initially chanel choking pensioner' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pensioner' could be 'oap' and 'oap' is located in the answer.
'chanel' could be 'coco' (I've seen this before) and 'coco' is present in the remaining letters.
The remaining letters 'po' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for poco a poco that I've seen before include "Very slowly" , "Gradually" , "by degrees" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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