The losing suit for lovers? (6)
I believe the answer is:
hearts
'lovers?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'the losing suit for' is the wordplay.
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'losing' suggests deleting specific letters.
'suit' becomes 'heart'.
'for' becomes 'ts' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'heart' with 't' removed is 'hear'.
'hear'+'ts'='HEARTS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hearts that I've seen before include "Card suit and essential organs" , "Edinburgh football team - suit" , "Central parts" , "quarterdeck?" , "Red playing cards" .)