Crossword Genius

White companions deserted force in conflicts (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dwarfs

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

'white companions' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'deserted force in conflicts' is the wordplay.
'deserted' becomes 'd'.
'force' becomes 'F' (symbol used in Physics e.g. f=ma).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'conflicts' becomes 'wars' (war is a kind of conflict).
'f' placed inside 'wars' is 'warfs'.
'd'+'warfs'='DWARFS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dwarfs that I've seen before include "Short mythical creatures" , "Small people like Snow white's" , "Snow-white had seven of these companions" , "Dominates" , "Mythical short beings" .)

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app