Crossword Genius

Half of the gentry blasts secret meetings (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trysts

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

'secret meetings' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'half of the gentry blasts' is the wordplay.
'half of' indicates taking half.
'blasts' becomes 'sts' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'gentry' halved is 'try'.
'try'+'sts'='TRYSTS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for trysts that I've seen before include "'Assignations, romantic meetings (6)'" , "dates" , "Lover's appointments" , "Lovers' meetings" , "Lovers' assignations" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app