Why specimen gets corrupted with last of grime? I was often dirty from work (7,5)
I believe the answer is:
chimney sweep
'i was often dirty from work' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'why specimen gets corrupted with last of grime?' is the wordplay.
'gets corrupted' indicates an anagram.
'with' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'last of' indicates one should take the final letters.
The last letter of 'grime' is 'e'.
'why'+'specimen'='whyspecimen'
'whyspecimen' with letters rearranged gives 'chimneyswep'.
'chimneyswep' going around 'e' is 'CHIMNEY-SWEEP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chimney sweep that I've seen before include "Worker with long, strong brushes" , "Sooty person" , "Flue clearer" , "Sooty chap?" , "One to keep the home fires burning?" .)