Crossword Genius

Generator of boom surrounding the French prophet (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

malachi

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

'prophet' is the definition.
(I know that Malachi is a prophet)

'generator of boom surrounding the french' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the french' could be 'la' (one of the French words for 'the') and 'la' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for malachi that I've seen before include "Part of Bible" , "Old Testament prophet" , "Biblical prophet" , "Good book" , "Hebrew prophet; OT book" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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