Publicity coming quietly to one's ears (5)
I believe the answer is:
plugs
'publicity' is the definition.
(a plug is a piece of publicity)
'quietly to one's ears' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'quietly' could be 'p' (musical symbol) and 'p' is present in the answer.
'ears' could be 'lugs' (I've seen this before) and 'lugs' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'coming' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for plugs that I've seen before include "Wads, of tobacco say" , "Advertisements" , "They'll stop" , "Advertises" , "stoppers" .)