Crossword Genius

Frightening prospect arming the jerks (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nightmare

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'frightening prospect' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'arming the jerks' is the wordplay.
'jerks' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'jerk' mean this).
'arming'+'the'='armingthe'
'armingthe' is an anagram of 'NIGHTMARE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nightmare that I've seen before include "Frightening dream" , "Frightening nocturnal fantasy" , "dreadful experience" , "that might upset the rest" , "Horrible experience" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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