Moderates article on strike and makes it less harsh (7,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
softens the blow
'makes it less harsh' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'moderates article on strike' is the wordplay.
'moderates' becomes 'softens' ('soften' can be a synonym of 'moderate').
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'on strike' becomes 'blow' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'softens'+'the'+'blow'='SOFTENS THE BLOW'
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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