Crossword Genius

Racket about last academic woman (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

roberta

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

'woman' is the definition.

'racket about last academic' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is located in the answer.
'last' could be 'be' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'be' is found in the answer.
'racket' could be 'rort' (I've seen this before) and 'rort' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for roberta that I've seen before include "Girl" , "-- Flack, US singer" , "Female" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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