Dreadful pranks reportedly stopped by cold woman in charge (9)
I believe the answer is:
directrix
'woman in charge' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'dreadful pranks reportedly stopped by cold' is the wordplay.
'dreadful' becomes 'dire' (synonyms).
'pranks reportedly' becomes 'trix' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'stopped by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'cold' becomes 'C' (eg on taps).
'dire'+'trix'='diretrix'
'diretrix' going around 'c' is 'DIRECTRIX'.
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in The Times.
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