Crossword Genius

Terribly sad poet holding fifty little wrigglers (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tadpoles

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

'little wrigglers' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both animals as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'terribly sad poet holding fifty' is the wordplay.
'terribly' indicates an anagram.
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'fifty' becomes 'L' (Roman numeral).
'sad'+'poet'='sadpoet'
'sadpoet' with letters rearranged gives 'tadpoes'.
'tadpoes' going around 'l' is 'TADPOLES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tadpoles that I've seen before include "Little swimmers" , "Young frogs" , "Baby frogs" , "Immature frogs" , "Larval frogs" .)

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