Crossword Genius

Clear evidence of star pinching cat fed by Charles? (7,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

smoking gun

'clear evidence' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'star pinching cat fed by charles?' is the wordplay.
'star' becomes 'sun' (the Sun is a star).
'pinching' is an insertion indicator (taking inside).
'cat' becomes 'mog' (informal British term).
'fed by' indicates putting letters inside (one word is fed by another set of letters).
'charles?' becomes 'king' (Charles I or Charles II).
'mog' going around 'king' is 'mokingg'.
'sun' going around 'mokingg' is 'SMOKING GUN'.

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for smoking gun that I've seen before include "Strong circumstantial evidence" , "Piece of incriminating evidence" , "Immediate and irrefutable evidence of crime" , "Convincing evidence" , "Evidence of crime just committed" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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