Bed ‘zest’ ebbing in spirit? Peripherally an insomniac’s curse (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
sleep debt
'an insomniac's curse' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'bed zest ebbing in spirit? peripherally' is the wordplay.
'zest' becomes 'peel' (I've seen this in another clue).
'ebbing' says the letters should be written in reverse (to ebb can mean to go backwards).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'peripherally' means to remove the middle letters (only the 'peripheral' letters in the word are kept).
'spirit' with its middle removed is 'st'.
'bed'+'peel'='bedpeel'
'bedpeel' in reverse letter order is 'leepdeb'.
'leepdeb' going within 'st' is 'SLEEP DEBT'.
Can you help me to learn more?