Crossword Genius

Being smart, curse wildly about a poor start (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spruce

'being smart' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'curse wildly about a poor start' is the wordplay.
'wildly' is an anagram indicator.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'start' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'poor' is 'p'.
'curse' is an anagram of 'sruce'.
'sruce' placed around 'p' is 'SPRUCE'.

(Other definitions for spruce that I've seen before include "Smart in appearance like fir tree" , "Smart and tidy - tree" , "Smart, trim" , "Well-groomed - tree" , "Evergreen pyramid-shaped tree" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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.