What could be lasting, involving love and a touch of agony? (9)
I believe the answer is:
nostalgia
'touch of agony?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both feelings as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'what could be lasting involving love and a' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'love' could be 'o' (love means zero in tennis) and 'o' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'lasting' is 'nstalgi' which is located in the left over letters.
'a' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nostalgia that I've seen before include "Sentimental feeling of analogist" , "Wistfulness" , "Sentimental feeling for old times" , "Love for the past" , "A longing for past times" .)