Scornful of sound including Queen in publicity (8)
I believe the answer is:
sardonic
'scornful' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'of sound including queen in publicity' is the wordplay.
'of sound' becomes 'sonic' (I've seen this before).
'including' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'queen' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation regina. e.g. in ER ).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'publicity' becomes 'ad' (advert).
'r' going inside 'ad' is 'ard'.
'sonic' placed around 'ard' is 'SARDONIC'.
(Other definitions for sardonic that I've seen before include "Heartless and bitter" , "Mocking or scornful" , "Disdainfully or ironically humorous" , "Sarcastic" , "Humorous in grim way - seems so rancid" .)