Newspaper defends Tory struggling with old age? (5-3)
I believe the answer is:
forty-two
'age?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'newspaper defends tory struggling with old' is the wordplay.
'newspaper' becomes 'ft' (Financial Times newspaper).
'defends' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are held or defended).
'struggling' is an anagram indicator.
'with' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'tory' anagrammed gives 'orty'.
'ft' enclosing 'orty' is 'fortyt'.
'fortyt'+'w'+'o'='FORTY-TWO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for forty-two that I've seen before include "Three fourteens" , "The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)" , "Douglas Adams' numerical Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything" .)