Crossword Genius

Force spring in lock in unlawful act (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trespass

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

'unlawful act' is the definition.
(trespassing is an unlawful act)

'force spring in lock' is the wordplay.
'force spring' becomes 'pas' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'lock' becomes 'tress' (both can mean a piece of hair).
'pas' put within 'tress' is 'TRESPASS'.

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for trespass that I've seen before include "Transgress" , "Wrong" , "Enter another's property without permission" , "Sin (archaic)" , "Intrude on another's property" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.