Crossword Genius

Tragedy of feline pet throttled by alpha male (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

catastrophe

'tragedy' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'feline pet throttled by alpha male' is the wordplay.
'feline' becomes 'cat' (cat is a kind of feline).
'pet' becomes 'strop' (both can mean a tantrum).
'throttled by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get throttled or smothered).
'alpha' becomes 'a' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'male' becomes 'he' (he refers to a man).
'a'+'he'='ahe'
'strop' going into 'ahe' is 'astrophe'.
'cat'+'astrophe'='CATASTROPHE'

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for catastrophe that I've seen before include "Event causing great damage" , "disastrous event?" , "Event causing great suffering" , "Denouement" , "Great disaster" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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