Crossword Genius

Put down an unanswerable question (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

koan

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

'question' is the definition.
(I know that koan is a type of problem)

'put down an unanswerable' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'kon' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for koan that I've seen before include "There's no reason for it" , "Zen paradox; OK, no (anag.)" , "Zen riddle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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