Crossword Genius

Path that will secure a victory for Labour (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

travail

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'for labour' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'path that will secure a victory' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'victory' could be 'v' and 'v' is found in the answer.
'path' could be 'trail' (trail is a kind of path) and 'trail' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for travail that I've seen before include "Painful labour" , "In old use, the pains of childbirth" , "Exertion, elbow grease" , "painful exercise" , "Hard labour" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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