Crossword Genius

Close court to Spooner and finish early (3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cut short

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

'finish early' is the definition.
'cut short' can be an answer for 'finish' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'early' bit.

'close court to spooner' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'close' could be 'short' (similar in meaning) and 'short' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cut' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cut short that I've seen before include "ended prematurely" , "instruction to army barber" , "Interrupted" , "Abbreviate" , "Abridge" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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