Crossword Genius

Shambles! No good Queen covering up final note from Freddie Mercury (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

messenger

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'freddie mercury' is the definition.
'messenger' can be an answer for 'mercury' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'freddie' bit.

'shambles no good queen covering up final note' is the wordplay.
'shambles' becomes 'mess' (I've seen this before).
'no good' becomes 'ng' (abbreviation).
'queen' becomes 'ER' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'covering up' indicates putting letters inside.
'final' says to take the final letters.
The final letter of 'note' is 'e'.
'mess'+'ng'+'er'='messnger'
'messnger' placed around 'e' is 'MESSENGER'.

'from' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for messenger that I've seen before include "The role of Hermes or Mercury?" , "Bearer of communication" , "Person carrying information to another" , "Emissary, courier" , "Kind of bearer - don't shoot him" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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