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Spotting beloved, Romeo becoming very soft (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dappling

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'spotting' is the definition.
(dappling is a kind of spotting)

'beloved romeo becoming very soft' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'soft' could be 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo) and 'pp' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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