Crossword Genius

Everyone turned up when cutting wood in fall (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

collapse

'fall' is the definition.
(collapse can mean to fall down)

'everyone turned up when cutting wood' is the wordplay.
'everyone' becomes 'all' (all people).
'turned up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'when cutting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'wood' becomes 'copse' (a copse is a small wood).
'all' backwards is 'lla'.
'lla' placed into 'copse' is 'COLLAPSE'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for collapse that I've seen before include "Fall down or lose strength suddenly" , "Suddenly fall down or give way" , "Slump" , "Break-down or complete failure" , "Fall down as from weakness" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app