Punish opponents at bridge having succeeded in this? (7)
I believe the answer is:
finesse
'this?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'punish opponents at bridge having succeeded' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'opponents' could be 'es' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'es' is present in the answer.
'at' could be 'in' and 'in' is present in the answer.
'succeeded' could be 's' (genealogical abbreviation) and 's' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for finesse that I've seen before include "Tact and poise in handling situations" , "Hopeful ploy at cards" , "subtle tactic" , "Impressive skill and delicacy" , "Sophistication" .)