Crossword Genius

Golden Age Hollywood actress to tear tabloid up (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gardner

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

'golden age hollywood actress' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'tear tabloid up' is the wordplay.
'tear' becomes 'rend' (rending is a kind of tearing).
'tabloid' becomes 'rag' (informal term for a tabloid newspaper).
'up' is a reversal indicator (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'rend'+'rag'='rendrag'
'rendrag' back-to-front is 'GARDNER'.

'to' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for gardner that I've seen before include "Writer of detective books" , "US actress. wife of Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, d. London, 1990" , "Ava and Earl Stanley" , "Erle Stanley ..., Ava ..." , "Ava --, US actress" .)

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