Crossword Genius

American daughter is lacking in muscle tone (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

aqua

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'lacking in muscle tone' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'american daughter' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'daughter' becomes 'qua' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a'+'qua'='AQUA'

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aqua that I've seen before include "Blue tinged with green" , "Hue" , "(Denoting) water (Lat)" , "which supports boats?" , "Water (L)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.