Tofu and decafs somehow struggled to inspire (10)

I believe the answer is:

suffocated

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'struggled to inspire' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'tofu and decafs somehow' is the wordplay.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'somehow' is an anagram indicator.
'tofu' put after 'decafs' is 'decafstofu'.
'decafstofu' is an anagram of 'SUFFOCATED'.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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