Johnny English getting into difficulty on bridge (6)
I believe the answer is:
rubber
'johnny' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'english getting into difficulty on bridge' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'getting into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'difficulty' becomes 'rub' (rub can mean a difficulty or problem).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'bridge' becomes 'br'.
'rub'+'br'='rubbr'
'e' going inside 'rubbr' is 'RUBBER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rubber that I've seen before include "Masseur - series of bridge games" , "tough polymeric material?" , "Elastic material" , "a bit of bridge" , "material with some flexibility" .)