Director truly disheartened over something said by actor ahead of new Stoppard play (5,5)
I believe the answer is:
dirty linen
'actor ahead of new stoppard play' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'director truly disheartened over something said' is the wordplay.
'director' becomes 'dir'.
'disheartened' suggests removing the centre (the middle or heart is removed).
'over' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go over others).
'something said' becomes 'linen' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'truly' with its centre removed is 'ty'.
'dir'+'ty'+'linen'='DIRTY LINEN'
'by' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dirty linen that I've seen before include "laundry" , "of a laundryman" , "private matters (in > play)" , "The intimate secrets" , "personal problems (like the infamous dress?)" .)