Crossword Genius

Person of note from Grease turn­ed up with Newton-John at last (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lion

'person of note' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'from grease turned up with newton-john at last' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'from' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'newton' could be 'n' (synonyms) and 'n' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for lion that I've seen before include "Carnivore" , "Courageous person" , "Buddhist scripture; Sanskrit rule" , "bold type" , "cowardly character in Oz" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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