Must European queen soon offend, put in the lead? (4,3,3)
I believe the answer is:
sine qua non
'must' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'european queen soon offend put in the lead?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'european' could be 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU) and 'e' is found in the answer.
'queen' could be 'qu' (abbreviation for queen) and 'qu' is found in the answer.
'soon' could be 'anon' (synonyms) and 'anon' is located in the answer.
'offend' could be 'sin' (sin can mean to commit an offence) and 'sin' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sine qua non that I've seen before include "Essential condition" , "A vital qualification" , "Must" , "Indispensable condition" .)