Escaped being addressed as spinster? (6)
I believe the answer is:
missed
'escaped' is the definition.
('miss' can be a synonym of 'escape')
'being addressed as spinster?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'being' could be 'miss' (miss is a kind of being) and 'miss' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ed' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for missed that I've seen before include "Didn't catch" , "Failed to catch" , "Failed to perceive" , "Overlooked ?- ?? but not forgotten!" , "Overlooked; needed" .)