Crossword Genius

Cooler tenants? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

prisoners

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

'cooler tenants?' is the definition.
(people resident in a prison or cooler)

'cooler tenants?' is the wordplay.
'cooler' becomes 'prison' (cooler can informally mean a prison).
'tenants?' becomes 'ers' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'prison'+'ers'='PRISONERS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for prisoners that I've seen before include "People in jail or captives" , "Detainees" , "cons" , "Convicts, inmates" , "Captives or convicts" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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.