Crossword Genius

Daredevil to shock a thousand brown bears (5,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stunt man

'daredevil' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'shock a thousand brown bears' is the wordplay.
'shock' becomes 'stun' ('stun' can be a synonym of 'shock'**).
'a thousand' becomes 'm' ('M' can be a synonym of 'thousand').
'brown' becomes 'tan' (tan is a kind of brown).
'bears' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'm' going within 'tan' is 'tman'.
'stun'+'tman'='STUNT MAN'

'to' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for stunt man that I've seen before include "Actor's stand-in" , "Person employed to do difficult feats for actors" , "Performer of dangerous acts in films etc" , "Movie extra who performs dangerous feats" , "Danger stand-in" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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