Stinging character of nettle reduced by some nursing Charlie (8)
I believe the answer is:
piquancy
'stinging' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'character of nettle reduced by some nursing charlie' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'character' could be 'pi' (pi is a kind of character) and 'pi' is present in the answer.
'some' could be 'a' and 'a' is found within the answer.
'charlie' could be 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.) and 'c' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for piquancy that I've seen before include "Pleasant spiciness" , "Tanginess" , "Tart spicy quality" , "Appetising flavour" , "Tang" .)