Pretend to be ill we hear to get a drink (9)
I believe the answer is:
champagne
'drink' is the definition.
(champagne is a kind of drink)
'pretend to be ill we hear to get a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'be' could be 'am' and 'am' is found in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for champagne that I've seen before include "Celebratory drink" , "bubbles" , "Fizz" , "French sparkling wine" , "tipple" .)