German acknowledges grim sort of humour (7)
I believe the answer is:
gallows
'sort of humour' is the definition.
(as in gallows humour)
'german acknowledges' is the wordplay.
'german' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'acknowledges' becomes 'allows' (allowing is a kind of acknowledging).
'g'+'allows'='GALLOWS'
'grim' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gallows that I've seen before include "Frame for hanging" , "5 dn [GRIM REAPER] might appear here" , "Frame for execution" , "Structure for hangings" , "Place of execution" .)