Terrible bad luck for authority opening waterworks linked to phoney energy (1,6,5)
I believe the answer is:
a crying shame
'terrible bad luck for authority opening waterworks linked' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'phoney energy' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'phoney' could be 'sham' (I've seen this before) and 'sham' is found within the answer.
'energy' could be 'ac' (AC is an example) and 'ac' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in The Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).
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