Crossword Genius

For a start, how are you feeling? Always sneezing? (3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hay fever

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

'sneezing?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'for a start how are you feeling? always' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'feeling?' could be 'fever' (fever is a kind of feeling) and 'fever' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hay fever that I've seen before include "Allergy - Noel Coward comedy" , "Coward's" , "Seasonal rhinitis" , "Coward created this" , "Rhinitis resulting from an allergic reaction to pollen" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app