Gee! Crossword setter's attempt at humour is tacky (8)
I believe the answer is:
gimcrack
'tacky' is the definition.
(I know that tacky can be written as gimcrack)
'gee crossword setter's attempt at humour' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'gee' could be 'g' (synonyms) and 'g' is present in the answer.
'setter's' could be 'im' (referring to the crossword setter) and 'im' is present in the answer.
'attempt' could be 'crack' (crack is a kind of attempt) and 'crack' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gimcrack that I've seen before include "poorly-made article" , "Rubbish!" , "Dodge, trick: worthless knick-knack" , "Cheap and unreliable" , "Shoddy; a poorly made article" .)