Idiot follows nurse stifling pain, one in the rear? (4,3,7)
I believe the answer is:
tail end charlie
'idiot follows nurse stifling' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'pain one in the rear?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pain' could be 'ail' (synonyms) and 'ail' is found within the answer.
'one' could be 'i' (Roman numeral) and 'i' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'rear?' could be 'end' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'end' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tail end charlie that I've seen before include "Chap shooting back in Lancaster" , "Possibly he aimed to kill followers of Lancaster" , "Back marker" .)