Crossword Genius

Indulge prank about Northern river rising (5-4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spoon-feed

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

'rising' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes define each other.

'indulge prank about northern river' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'on' (as in a book 'on' a certain topic) and 'on' is present in the answer.
'river' could be 'po' (the river Po in Italy) and 'po' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spoon-feed that I've seen before include "Overindulge or spoil" , "Foster artificially" , "Give infant a meal" , "Cosset, mollycoddle" , "Give excessive help to someone, as in nourishing a baby" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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