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At the Fringe, Clarabell dominates Bip and Coco? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

clowns

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

'bip and coco?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'at the fringe clarabell dominates' is the wordplay.
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'the fringe' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (I've seen 'fringes of' mean this).
'dominates' becomes 'owns' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'clarabell' with its centre taken out is 'cl'.
'cl' next to 'owns' is 'CLOWNS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for clowns that I've seen before include "Funny men in the circus" , "Funny circus folk" , "Circus entertainers" , "Circus comedians" , "They amuse with ridiculous behaviour" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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