Crossword Genius

High sounding woman, maybe laughing (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hyena

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'high sounding woman maybe laughing' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'high sounding woman' is the wordplay.
'high sounding' becomes 'hy' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'woman' becomes 'ena' (feminine given name).
'hy'+'ena'='HYENA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hyena that I've seen before include "one to laugh" , "Beast" , "African wild dog" , "Flesh-eating dog with eerie laugh" , "Wolf-like animal with cry like laughter" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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