King's guard exploit last of free ale bottles (9)
I believe the answer is:
beefeater
'king's guard' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'exploit last of free ale bottles' is the wordplay.
'exploit' becomes 'feat' (synonyms).
'last of' suggests the final letters.
'ale' becomes 'beer' (ale is a type of beer).
'bottles' indicates putting letters inside (to bottle can mean to contain).
The final letter of 'free' is 'e'.
'feat'+'e'='feate'
'feate' inserted into 'beer' is 'BEEFEATER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beefeater that I've seen before include "Royal servant" , "Yeoman of the Guard; carnivore" , "Tower of London guard" , "royal bodyguard" , "Yeoman warder of the Tower of London" .)