Possible Clues:

• Brief newspaper feature on death of prominent person
• Short newspaper piece about deceased luminary
• What one may get of late
• A form of life after death?
• Brief newspaper account of life of someone recently dead
• That's in writing of late
• You bar it if you're late
• Brief newspaper account of deceased person's life
• The eyes of Tom Jones seen 'big and fiery as two large --x' by shocked sentinel
• A late item in the news?