Quiet executive assistant catches hold of the Italian woman in Sydney? (6)
I believe the answer is:
sheila
'quiet executive assistant catches hold' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'italian woman in sydney?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'italian' could be 'i' (abbreviation for Italian) and 'i' is found in the answer.
'woman' could be 'shela' and 'shela' is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sheila that I've seen before include "Informally, a girl or woman in Australia" , "16 down's girl" , "Australian girl or woman" , "Woman (Aus. colloq.)" , "bird?" .)