Southern relatives seen beside river, quiet and shallow (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
skin deep
'shallow' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'southern relatives seen beside river quiet' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'southern' could be 's' (abbreviation) and 's' is found within the answer.
'relatives' could be 'kin' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'kin' is located in the answer.
'river' could be 'dee' (River Dee) and 'dee' is found in the answer.
'quiet' could be 'p' (music symbol for 'piano', ie soft or quiet) and 'p' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for skin deep that I've seen before include "description of beauty" , "on the surface" , "Superficial refurbishment" , "Shallow" , "Beauty is said to be" .)