Hostile women angrily surrounding cad help things run smoothly (3,3,6)
I believe the answer is:
oil the wheels
'help things run smoothly' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'hostile women angrily surrounding cad' is the wordplay.
'women' becomes 'w'.
'angrily' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'surrounding' is an insertion indicator.
'cad' becomes 'heel' (synonyms).
'hostile'+'w'='hostilew'
'hostilew' with letters rearranged gives 'oilthews'.
'oilthews' enclosing 'heel' is 'OIL THE WHEELS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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