Crossword Genius

Honourable, say to replace old boy before court reveals carelessness (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

neglect

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

'carelessness' is the definition.
(I know that carelessness can be written as neglect)

'honourable say to replace old boy before court' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'say' could be 'eg' (both can mean 'for example') and 'eg' is found within the answer.
'before' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found within the answer.
'court' could be 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names) and 'ct' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'reveals' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for neglect that I've seen before include "Leave undealt with" , "Disuse" , "Give little attention to" , "Failure to do something" , "Fail to attend to properly, task or person" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.