Crossword Genius

Charlie and Rick? (4,2,3,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pain in the neck

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

'rick?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.

'charlie and' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'charlie' could be 'c' (phonetic alphabet) and 'c' is found within the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pain in the neck that I've seen before include "bind" , "Bothersome annoying person" , "Headache" , "Very tiresome person or thing" , "Persistently difficult person or thing (caused by a whiplash?)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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.