Crossword Genius

Philosopher abandoning case makes a cry for help (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

socrates

'philosopher' is the definition.
(I know that Socrates is a philosopher)

'abandoning case makes a cry for help' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'case' could be 'crate' (crating is a kind of casing) and 'crate' is located in the answer.
'help' could be 'sos' (emergency abbreviation SOS) and 'sos' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

(Other definitions for socrates that I've seen before include "Wise guy" , "Ancient Greek" , "Coarsest (anag) - philosopher" , "Coarsest one of great Greek philosophers" , "Hemlocked philosopher" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times and The Guardian.
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