About to fail — like one's indicators? (2,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
on the blink
'indicators?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'about to fail like one's' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'on' (as in a book 'on' a certain topic) and 'on' is located in the answer.
'one' could be 'the' (both can introduce a definite example of something) and 'the' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'blink' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for on the blink that I've seen before include "getting poor reception" , "Not working properly" , "out of order" .)