Crossword Genius

Wise utterances from old Dawson, perhaps involving motorists (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

oracles

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'wise utterances' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'old dawson perhaps involving motorists' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'dawson perhaps' becomes 'les' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'involving' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'motorists' becomes 'rac' (I've seen this in other clues).
'o'+'les'='oles'
'oles' enclosing 'rac' is 'ORACLES'.

'from' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for oracles that I've seen before include "They would be asked questions" , "Wise utterances" , "Solacer for wise or knowledgeable people" , "Prophets, seers" , "They were consulted by ancient Greeks" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app