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A problem a woman with loud independent sect may finish (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

difficulty

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'a problem' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'with loud independent sect may finish' is the wordplay.
'with' indicates putting letters inside.
'loud' becomes 'ff' (short for fortissimo - 'very loud' in music).
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'sect' becomes 'cult' (I've seen this before).
'may finish' becomes 'diy' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ff'+'i'+'cult'='fficult'
'fficult' placed inside 'diy' is 'DIFFICULTY'.

'a woman' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

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I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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