About to exploit star concerned with controversial issue (5,7)
I believe the answer is:
cause celebre
'concerned with controversial issue' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to natural events as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'about to exploit star' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'about' could be 're' ('re' means regarding or about) and 're' is present in the answer.
'exploit' could be 'cause' (cause is a kind of exploit) and 'cause' is present in the answer.
'star' could be 'celeb' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'celeb' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cause celebre that I've seen before include "Popular but controversial issue" , "Incident attracting serious controversy" , "Controversial issue gaining much attention" , "Notorious lawsuit, for example" , "Incident that attracts great public attention" .)