Clean trousers in lake? It's a pain in the neck (8)
I believe the answer is:
whiplash
'a pain in the neck' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'clean trousers in lake?' is the wordplay.
'clean' becomes 'wash' (washing is a kind of cleaning).
'trousers' indicates putting letters inside (to trouser can mean to steal or take).
'in' becomes 'hip' (both can mean fashionable).
'lake?' becomes 'L' (geographical abbreviation).
'hip'+'l'='hipl'
'wash' placed around 'hipl' is 'WHIPLASH'.
'it's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for whiplash that I've seen before include "Result of an accident perhaps" , "inflicted by cat" , "Common neck injury in car accidents" , "Injury caused by a severe jerk to the head" , "Stroke of punishment" .)