Winger disheartened dropping point - ref f--- hopeless (9,6)
I believe the answer is:
feathered friend
'winger' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'disheartened dropping point ref f-hopeless' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'point' could be 'end' (end is a kind of point) and 'end' is found within the answer.
'f' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for feathered friend that I've seen before include "Bird" , "lark?" , "Martin perhaps" .)