Crossword Genius

Poor audience response stifling street comedian (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

jester

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'comedian' is the definition.
(jester is a kind of comedian)

'poor audience response stifling street' is the wordplay.
'poor audience response' becomes 'jeer' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'stifling' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters get stifled or contained).
'street' becomes 'st' (abbreviation).
'jeer' going around 'st' is 'JESTER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for jester that I've seen before include "Court joker" , "his work's funny" , "Comic" , "Funny man, once at court" , "Court entertainer (with bells on?)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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