Crossword Genius

Soften the blow? (4,1,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pull a punch

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

'soften' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'blow?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'blow?' could be 'punch' (punch is a kind of blow) and 'punch' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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