Wife seems ideal to disperse fungal problem (5,3,7)
I believe the answer is:
dutch elm disease
'fungal problem' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'wife seems ideal to disperse' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'dutch' (slang term).
'to disperse' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'dispersed' mean this).
'seems'+'ideal'='seemsideal'
'seemsideal' with letters rearranged gives 'elmdisease'.
'dutch'+'elmdisease'='DUTCH ELM DISEASE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dutch elm disease that I've seen before include "tree problem" , "What bark beetles help to cause" , "threat to the forest" , "a growing problem" , "Fungal tree ailment" .)