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Spotty son liberal dons kissed quickly (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

speckled

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'spotty' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'son liberal dons kissed quickly' is the wordplay.
'son' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son).
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'dons' indicates putting letters inside (don means to wear or put on).
'kissed quickly' becomes 'pecked' (pecking is a kind of kissing. I am not sure about the 'quickly' bit.).
'l' inserted into 'pecked' is 'peckled'.
's'+'peckled'='SPECKLED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for speckled that I've seen before include "such a mysterious band" , "The - Band (Sherlock Holmes story)" , "description of Holmes's band" , "Like some hens" , "Dotty" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.
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