Crossword Genius

Obvious time to support poor defensive line (4-7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

self-evident

'obvious' is the definition.
('self-evident' can be similar in meaning to 'obvious')

'time to support poor defensive line' is the subsidiary indication.
'time' becomes 't'.
'to support' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'poor' indicates an anagram.
'line' becomes 'l'.
'defensive'+'l'='defensivel'
'defensivel' is an anagram of 'selfeviden'.
't' put after 'selfeviden' is 'selfevident'.

(Other definitions for self-evident that I've seen before include "Not needing to be demonstrated" , "Obvious" , "Not requiring further explanation" , "Needing no explanation" , "Not needing to be explained" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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