Trying case of drug popular in prison (7)
I believe the answer is:
judging
'trying' is the definition.
('judge' can be a synonym of 'try')
'case of drug popular in prison' is the wordplay.
'case of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (outsides of).
'popular' becomes 'in'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'prison' becomes 'jug'.
'drug' with its middle taken out is 'dg'.
'dg'+'in'='dgin'
'dgin' put inside 'jug' is 'JUDGING'.
(Another definition for judging that I've seen is " Adjudicating".)
I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution?
Install my app