Crossword Genius

Tricky, describing wading bird? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

knotty

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

'tricky' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'describing wading bird?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'bird?' could be 'knot' (knot is a kind of bird) and 'knot' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for knotty that I've seen before include "Full of tangles; extremely intricate" , "Describing a difficult problem" , "Difficult (point)" , "Difficult (like wood hard to chop through?)" , "Extremely difficult" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.