Crossword Genius

Difficult militarist, no leader at war, died (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

awkward

'difficult' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'militarist no leader at war died' is the wordplay.
'militarist' becomes 'hawk' (hawk is a kind of militarist).
'no leader' means to remove the first letter.
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'hawk' with its first letter taken off is 'awk'.
'awk'+'war'+'d'='AWKWARD'

(Other definitions for awkward that I've seen before include "Unwieldy" , "Hard to do; ungraceful" , "inconvenient" , "Gauche - obstinate" , "Embarrassed" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.
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.