Crossword Genius

Lose it, knowing of article supporting female name (3,3,3,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fly off the handle

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'lose it' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'knowing of article supporting female name' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'knowing' could be 'fly' and 'fly' is found within the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
'article' could be 'the' (the definite article in English) and 'the' is located in the answer.
'female' could be 'f' (common abbreviation) and 'f' is found in the answer.
'name' could be 'handle' (a handle is a name) and 'handle' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'f' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fly off the handle that I've seen before include "See red" , "Lose one's temper" , "Robin perching on spade may" , "react angrily" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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