Beat poet first to rave about deep earthy fragrance (9)
I believe the answer is:
petrichor
'earthy fragrance' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'beat poet first to rave about deep' is the wordplay.
'beat' is an anagram indicator.
'first to' suggests taking the first letters.
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'deep' becomes 'rich' (synonyms).
The first letter of 'rave' is 'r'.
'poet'+'r'='poetr'
'poetr' with letters rearranged gives 'petor'.
'petor' enclosing 'rich' is 'PETRICHOR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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