Crossword Genius

Stand down to let in liberal party? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

blowout

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'liberal party?' is the definition.
'blowout' can be an answer for 'party?' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'liberal' bit.

'stand down to let in' is the wordplay.
'stand' becomes 'bout' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'down' becomes 'low' (associated in meaning).
'to let in' is an insertion indicator.
'bout' going around 'low' is 'BLOWOUT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for blowout that I've seen before include "Lavish meal (slang)" , "Car's exploding tyre incident" , "Heavy meal" , "large meal" , "lot to eat" .)

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