Crossword Genius

Isolated without female? Never mind

Ross

I believe the answer is:

letalone

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'never mind' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'isolated without female?' is the wordplay.
'isolated' becomes 'lone' (both can mean alone).
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'female?' becomes 'etal' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'lone' going around 'etal' is 'LETALONE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for letalone that I've seen is " Much less".)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Mail.
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