Despite denial, fool spoilt fringes in passing (15)
I believe the answer is:
notwithstanding
'despite' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'denial fool spoilt fringes in passing' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'denial' could be 'not' and 'not' is found within the answer.
'in' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for notwithstanding that I've seen before include "anyway" , "without being still" , "yet" , "... in spite" , "Even so" .)