Crossword Genius

Family stopping small cat doing unhealthy activity (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

smoking

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

'activity' is the definition.
(smoking is a kind of activity)

'family stopping small cat' is the wordplay.
'family' becomes 'kin' (synonyms).
'stopping' is an insertion indicator (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'cat' becomes 'mog' (informal British term).
's'+'mog'='smog'
'kin' inserted into 'smog' is 'SMOKING'.

'doing unhealthy' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for smoking that I've seen before include "Puffing a fag" , "Using tobacco" , "unhealthy habit" , "Emitting a cloud of gas" , "Having a cigarette" .)

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