Crossword Genius

Didn't cry over having no rent (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tearless

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'no rent' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'didn't cry over' is the wordplay.
'didn't' becomes 'less' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'cry' becomes 'tear' (tearing is a kind of crying).
'over' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go over others).
'less' after 'tear' is 'TEARLESS'.

'having' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tearless that I've seen before include "without displaying sorrow" , "stiff upper lip" , "betraying no emotion" , "Dry" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.
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