Rowdy girl and the rest holding Edward up (7)
I believe the answer is:
ladette
'rowdy girl' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'the rest holding edward up' is the wordplay.
'the rest' becomes 'etal' (I've seen this before).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'edward' becomes 'ted'.
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'etal' enclosing 'ted' is 'ettedal'.
'ettedal' in reverse letter order is 'LADETTE'.
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ladette that I've seen before include "boozy girl" , "Rowdy youngster" , "Coarse young woman" , "binge-drinker" , "boisterous madam" .)