Ruin pub importing crack cocaine yearly to begin with (10)
I believe the answer is:
insolvency
'ruin' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'pub importing crack cocaine yearly to begin with' is the wordplay.
'pub' becomes 'inn' (an inn is a type of pub).
'importing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'crack' becomes 'solve' (crack can mean to solve or decipher).
'to begin with' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'cocaine yearly' is 'cy'.
'inn' placed around 'solve' is 'insolven'.
'insolven'+'cy'='INSOLVENCY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for insolvency that I've seen is " Lack of funds".)