Grumpy church variable in following military offensive (6)
I believe the answer is:
tetchy
'grumpy' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'church variable in following military offensive' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'church' could be 'ch' (common abbreviation) and 'ch' is found in the answer.
'variable' could be 'y' (algebra) and 'y' is found in the answer.
'offensive' could be 'tet' (Tet Offensive, Vietnam War military campaign) and 'tet' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tetchy that I've seen before include "Easily irritated or annoyed, narky" , "Cantankerous" , "Fractious" , "Easily provoked" , "Irritable, cross" .)