Quiet king drinking beer, looking less healthy? (5)
I believe the answer is:
paler
'looking less healthy?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'quiet king drinking beer' is the wordplay.
'quiet' becomes 'p' (music symbol for 'piano', ie soft or quiet).
'king' becomes 'R' (abbreviation of Latin rex).
'drinking' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are consumed or drunk).
'beer' becomes 'ale' (type of beer).
'p'+'r'='pr'
'pr' going around 'ale' is 'PALER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for paler that I've seen before include "Less colourful" , "Less dark" , "rather sickly-looking" , "comparatively anaemic" , "Lighter in colour" .)