Crossword Genius

Spoken about noise first, say (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ordinal

'first say' is the definition.
('first' is an ordinal number)

'spoken about noise' is the wordplay.
'spoken' becomes 'oral' (similar in meaning).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'noise' becomes 'din' (din can mean a loud noise or disturbance).
'oral' going around 'din' is 'ORDINAL'.

(Other definitions for ordinal that I've seen before include "Old Iran (anag)" , "E.g. first" , "Of position in series; service book (hist.)" , "Ninth, maybe" , "Numeral indicating rank order" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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