Cries about birds and gravity (9)
I believe the answer is:
soberness
'gravity' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'cries about birds' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'birds' could be 'ernes' (erne is a kind of bird) and 'ernes' is located in the answer.
'cries' could be 'sobs' (sobbing is a kind of crying) and 'sobs' is located in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for soberness that I've seen is " Gravity".)