Crossword Genius

Really sozzled earl fronting political protest (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

literally

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'really' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'sozzled earl fronting political protest' is the wordplay.
'sozzled' becomes 'lit' (I've seen this in another clue).
'fronting' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'front of' mean this).
'political protest' becomes 'rally' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letter of 'earl' is 'e'.
'lit'+'e'+'rally'='LITERALLY'

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(Other definitions for literally that I've seen before include "Actually, really" , "Exactly as stated" , "According to the letter, exactly" , "Without exaggeration" , "Absolutely" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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