Be honest, singer flat: lack of effort about the same? (4,1,5,1,5)
I believe the answer is:
call a spade a spade
'same?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'be honest singer flat lack of effort about' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'singer' could be 'callas' (I've seen this before) and 'callas' is located in the answer.
'flat' could be 'pad' (a person's home) and 'pad' is found within the answer.
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for call a spade a spade that I've seen before include "correctly identifying one in suit?" , "Speak bluntly" , "speak plainly" , "blunt" , "correctly identifying one of the pack" .)