Spooner's Lady Fortune for company in trouble (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
lame duck
'company in trouble' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'spooner's lady fortune' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'lady' could be 'ame' and 'ame' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lame duck that I've seen before include "Unsuccessful enterprise" , "Someone no longer able to perform effectively" , "Person in need of help - like injured eider?" , "Person losing power towards the end of a term of office" , "Elected official not much longer in office" .)