Crossword Genius

Clumsy manner of speaking about papers lying (8-5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

accident prone

'clumsy' is the definition.
(likely to have accidents)

'manner of speaking about papers lying' is the wordplay.
'manner of speaking' becomes 'accent' (accent is a kind of manner of speaking).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'papers' becomes 'ID' (identity papers).
'lying' becomes 'prone' (I've seen this before).
'accent' going around 'id' is 'accident'.
'accident'+'prone'='ACCIDENT-PRONE'

(Other definitions for accident prone that I've seen before include "likely to crash?" , "susceptible to injury" , "clumsy?" , "likely to make a slip" , "Unusually liable to mishaps" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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