Crossword Genius

Struggle of telecoms companies in 1939/40? (6,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

phoney war

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

'telecoms companies in 193940?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'struggle' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'struggle' could be 'war' (warring is a kind of struggling) and 'war' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'phoney' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for phoney war that I've seen is " relatively peaceful affair".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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