Crossword Genius

Property cleaner cries with attic having to be reorganised (14)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

characteristic

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

'property' is the definition.
(I know that characteristic is a type of property)

'cleaner cries with attic having to be reorganised' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'cleaner' could be 'char' (charwoman is a type of cleaner) and 'char' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for characteristic that I've seen before include "Typical of a particular person" , "Trait" , "Distinctive" , "Typical (of a person or thing)" , "Feature, quality" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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