Crossword Genius

Youngster needs drinks, holding party with little money (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

adolescent

'youngster' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'drinks holding party with little money' is the wordplay.
'drinks' becomes 'ales' (I've seen this before**).
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'party' becomes 'do' (do is a kind of party).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'little money' becomes 'cent' (I've seen this before).
'ales' enclosing 'do' is 'adoles'.
'adoles'+'cent'='ADOLESCENT'

'needs' is the link.

(Other definitions for adolescent that I've seen before include "juvenile" , "At the stage between childhood and maturity" , "sixth-former, say" , "Teenage" , "Developing" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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