Crossword Genius

Issue of spouse of Liberal visiting rebuked: should have rung earlier (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stepchild

'issue of spouse' is the definition.
(the children or offspring of one's spouse)

'visiting rebuked should have rung earlier' is the wordplay.
'visiting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'rebuked' becomes 'chid' ('chide' can be a synonym of 'rebuke').
'should have' becomes 'l' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'rung' becomes 'step' (I've seen this before).
'earlier' says to put letters next to each other.
'chid' placed around 'l' is 'child'.
'child' after 'step' is 'STEPCHILD'.

'of liberal' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

(Other definitions for stepchild that I've seen before include "Somebody else's kid" , "Cinderella, perhaps" , "Offspring of spouse" , "Spouse's son or daughter from a previous marriage" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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