Crossword Genius

Editorial comment describing provocative questions - clear it needs editing (7,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

leading article

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

'editorial comment' is the definition.
'leading article' can be an answer for 'comment' (thesaurus). I am not certain of the 'editorial' bit.

'provocative questions clear it needs editing' is the wordplay.
'provocative questions' becomes 'leading' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'needs editing' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'needing editing' mean this).
'clear'+'it'='clearit'
'clearit' anagrammed gives 'article'.
'leading'+'article'='LEADING ARTICLE'

'describing' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for leading article that I've seen before include "Newspaper's comment" , "such as The Times has" , "Editorial" .)

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