Clerk an assistant in swan-upping? (3-6)
I believe the answer is:
pen-pusher
'clerk' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'an assistant in swan-upping?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'assistant' could be 'usher' (usher is a kind of assistant) and 'usher' is located in the answer.
'swan' could be 'pen' (pen is a kind of swan) and 'pen' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'p' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for pen-pusher that I've seen is " Clerical worker with a boring job".)