Soap actor loses lead after advert heard regularly (9)
I believe the answer is:
detergent
'soap actor' is the definition.
'detergent' can be an answer for 'soap' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'actor' bit.
'loses lead after advert heard regularly' is the wordplay.
'loses lead' becomes 'gent' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'advert'+'heard'='advertheard'
The alternate letters of 'advertheard' are 'deter'.
'gent' after 'deter' is 'DETERGENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for detergent that I've seen before include "help with the washing-up" , "Cleansing substance used for washing clothes" , "Soluble cleanser" , "Soapless cleanser" , "Soluble cleansing agent" .)