Officer of business cross with lover (8)
I believe the answer is:
coxswain
'officer' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'business cross with lover' is the wordplay.
'business' becomes 'co' (short for company).
'cross' becomes 'x' (an X is a cross).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'lover' becomes 'swain' (old-fashioned term for a lover).
'co'+'x'+'swain'='COXSWAIN'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coxswain that I've seen before include "Lifeboat helmsman" , "Rowing boat pilot" , "Person in charge of a lifeboat" , "Wax icons (anag)" , "one steers" .)