Lets understand the funda of cluing for crosswords :

Note: All clues have ( normally should have ) …a ’surface indication’…..that is to mislead………and the ‘real indication’….that leads us to the answer….

Example:

Clue : “Original equipment manufacturer” in short, is this ! (3 letters)

Surface clue leads us to believe that the answer is describing a trait of an original equipment manufacturer…

whereas the answer is hidden….in short ‘original equipment manufacturer’…which is OEM

So the answer is OEM

Another Example:

Clue : An hour when it is getting late for a team (6 letters)

Surface clue indicates that it is getting late for a team to do something…

Actual answer is hidden in …..an hour when it is getting late !

(Come on……pull up your socks !)

Eleventh hour is when it is said to be getting late

and a team is also referred as eleven

So the answer is ELEVEN ( not eleventh….as in crosswords one has to keep the grammatical emphasis of the clue as well !! a team can be called eleven not eleventh !)

Please write your comments….to take this further !