Metal joint on a ship not recognised (9)
I believe the answer is:
thankless
'not recognised' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'metal joint on a ship' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'metal' could be 'th' (Th is an example) and 'th' is found in the answer.
'joint' could be 'ankle' (joint of the body) and 'ankle' is located in the answer.
'ship' could be 'ss' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain) and 'ss' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for thankless that I've seen before include "Receiving no appreciation" , "Unappreciated" , "Showing no gratitude" .)