Crossword Genius

Difficult week disturbing a protégé (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

awkward

'difficult' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'week disturbing a protege' is the wordplay.
'week' becomes 'wk' (common abbreviation).
'disturbing' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters disrupt or disturb the word).
'protege' becomes 'ward' (both can mean a child in someone's care).
'a'+'ward'='award'
'wk' put into 'award' is 'AWKWARD'.

(Other definitions for awkward that I've seen before include "Hard to deal with" , "Clumsy and ungraceful" , "Uncooperative" , "Clumsy or embarrassing" , "Clumsy - problematic" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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