Tricky to negotiate -- like a reef? (6)
I believe the answer is:
knotty
'tricky to negotiate' is the definition.
'like a reef?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'like' could be 'y' ('y' can be similar in meaning to 'like') and 'y' is found in the answer.
'reef?' could be 'knot' (I've seen this before) and 'knot' is located in the answer.
A single letter 't' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
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 "Awkward" , "Difficult (like wood hard to chop through?)" , "Very difficult - complex" , "Difficult - having hard lumps (of wood)" , "Complex - hard to solve" .)