Quietly leaves the podium in great unpopularity (5)
I believe the answer is:
odium
'great unpopularity' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'quietly leaves the podium' is the wordplay.
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'leaves' is a deletion indicator.
'podium' with 'p' removed is 'ODIUM'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for odium that I've seen before include "Hate coupled with disgust" , "Wide-spread disgust towards a person or action" , "shame!" , "Disfavour" , "Widespread dislike or disgust" .)