How do itchy whales meet expectations? (4,2,2,7)
I believe the answer is:
come up to scratch
'how do' is the definition.
'come up to scratch' can be an answer for 'do' (Will it do?). I am not sure about the 'how' bit.
'itchy whales meet expectations?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'meet' could be 'scratch' (scratching is a kind of meeting) and 'scratch' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'comeupto' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for come up to scratch that I've seen before include "Diver may be itching to" , "fulfil an obligation" , "reach a target?" , "suffice?" , "What divers may do, itching" .)