Possible Clues:

• Fail to stress indication of softness in some carpeting?
• Where one might look for Hamlet to act with little emphasis
• Make (something) seem less important than it is
• To perform subtly, felt maybe piano should intervene
• Reduce stress on subordinate to compete
• Perform (a role) in a restrained way
• Loot
• Fail to stress carpet fitter's requirement, incorporating small change
• It's beneath Macbeth perhaps, to put it mildly
• Foreign articles, written before game, show restraint