Second-class egg whisk, by the sound of it (4)
I believe the answer is:
beta
'second-class' is the definition.
(one less than alpha)
'egg whisk by the sound of it' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ba' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beta that I've seen before include "Second highest grade of mark" , "Second-class" , "Old character" , "It's next after alpha" , "Greek character - not quite top-notch" .)