Crossword Genius

Small and delicate, French finish after the Spanish (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

elfin

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'small and delicate' is the definition.
(elfin means small or cute)

'french finish after the spanish' is the wordplay.
'french finish' becomes 'fin' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'fin' after 'el' is 'ELFIN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for elfin that I've seen before include "Delicately framed" , "Small; impish" , "Small and delicate like fairy" , "Sweet" , "Small and fragile" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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