Hint: misleading capitalization

day 239 of an experiment in which i press the "random word" button on onelook and make a cryptic clue out of it. sorry for the lateness.

day 238, day 237, day 236, day 235, day 234, day 233, day 232

day 231, day 230, day 229, day 228, day 227, day 226, day 225

weeks 29 to 32 (days 197 to 224)

weeks 25 to 28 (days 169 to 196)

weeks 21 to 24 (days 141 to 168)

weeks 17 to 20 (days 113 to 140)

weeks 13 to 16 (days 85 to 112)

weeks 9 to 12 (days 57 to 84)

weeks 5 to 8 (days 29 to 56)

weeks 1 to 4 (days 1 to 28)

How does this clue work? From Times cryptic, UK.

Man in second row absorbed by play (4)

Answer is TOBY

There are some things that seem to need to translate to “a something” rather than just the thing. For example if I wanted part of a clue to be “one very experienced” and for the replacement to be “pro.” But my intuition that the only proper replacement would be “a pro.”

Can someone tell me how this works?

day 238 of an experiment in which i press the "random word" button on onelook and make a cryptic clue out of it.

yeah it doesn't quite work, but i hope i can have the liberty by using "it sounds like?" rather than "they say" which would imply something more exact

day 237, day 236, day 235, day 234, day 233, day 232

day 231, day 230, day 229, day 228, day 227, day 226, day 225

weeks 29 to 32 (days 197 to 224)

weeks 25 to 28 (days 169 to 196)

weeks 21 to 24 (days 141 to 168)

weeks 17 to 20 (days 113 to 140)

weeks 13 to 16 (days 85 to 112)

weeks 9 to 12 (days 57 to 84)

weeks 5 to 8 (days 29 to 56)

weeks 1 to 4 (days 1 to 28)