Crossword Genius

It's not a disaster to say I did it with novel idea (7,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

success story

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'it with novel idea' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'it's not a disaster to say i did' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'it's' could be 'es' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'es' is found in the answer.
'to' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for success story that I've seen before include "Record of a rise to prosperity" , "Something turning out very well" , "(A person's) rise to fame" , "A rise to prosperity, fame, etc" , "Record of a rise to fame or riches" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.
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