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Critical position reached by ace in court (5,2,2,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

point of no return

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

'critical position' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'reached by ace in court' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'by' could be 'of' and 'of' is found in the answer.
'ace' could be 'i' (synonyms) and 'i' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for point of no return that I've seen before include "Crucial moment" , "after which one's committed?" , "ace played?" , "After which one can't go back" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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