Crossword Genius

Offensive peasant's cutting wood (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thicket

'wood' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'offensive peasant's cutting' is the wordplay.
'offensive' becomes 'tet' (Tet Offensive, Vietnam War military campaign).
'peasant' becomes 'hick' (informal term for someone who lives in the country).
'cutting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters cut their way into a word).
'tet' enclosing 'hick' is 'THICKET'.

(Other definitions for thicket that I've seen before include "Dense growth of bushes" , "Coppice" , "close gathering of elders?" , "A patch of shrubs and small trees" , "Dense shrubbery" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app