Crossword Genius

Striking leading man after asocial part (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

socking

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'striking' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being present participle verbs.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'leading man after asocial part' is the wordplay.
'leading' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'man' becomes 'king' (king is a kind of man).
'after asocial part' becomes 'soc' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'king' put after 'soc' is 'SOCKING'.

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I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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