Crossword Genius

Face a diminutive couple (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dial

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'face' is the definition.
(face of a clock)

'a diminutive couple' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dil' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dial that I've seen before include "Clock face" , "Part of old telephone" , "Calibrated face" , "feature of old phone?" , "Meter face" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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