Crossword Genius

Subtle meaning in obvious jokes (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

overtones

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'obvious jokes' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to communication as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'subtle meaning in' is the wordplay.
'subtle' becomes 'overs' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'meaning' becomes 'tone' (tone is a kind of meaning).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'overs' placed around 'tone' is 'OVERTONES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for overtones that I've seen before include "subtle innuendoes" , "Upper partials" , "added nuances" , "Subtle implications" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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