Vaguely indicated a beat: cued at last, drum messed up (10)
I believe the answer is:
adumbrated
'vaguely indicated' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'a beat cued at last drum messed up' is the wordplay.
'at last' indicates one should take the final letters.
'messed up' indicates anagramming the letters.
The last letter of 'cued' is 'd'.
'beat'+'d'+'drum'='beatddrum'
'beatddrum' anagrammed gives 'dumbrated'.
'a'+'dumbrated'='ADUMBRATED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for adumbrated that I've seen is " overshadowed".)