Cryptographers, your attention please.

[Airspeed]

Hi all,
Thought I'd share this aviation-related cryptic crossword clue with you:

HAS WINGS AND FLIES. BROKEN BITS? AH, ALTIMETER!

[7 LETTERS]

[emfrat]

Back when I used to buy 'The Australian' , because it had the crossword from 'The Times' , I was stumped for some time by this beauty:
Bottom of the flying class? (6,4)
Turned out to be Weaver Bird...

MikeW

[Airspeed]

Hi MikeW,
Shakespear strikes again! Interesting that Lysander was in the same play. I would also have been stumped for a l - o - n - g time!

If nobody posts the right answer to the clue I posted, I'll put it up on Easter Monday.

Do you still do cryptics?

[emfrat]

Don't even buy a paper these days...have been trying the crossword in the Oz edition of 'The Spectator'.
Very challenging
ATB
MikeW

[Garry Russell]

Thing abuout cryptic clues is when the answer is known and the clue explained...I still can't get it

[emfrat]

Garry - You need a twisted mind like I've got

MikeW

[Garry Russell]

Mike...It's twisted but the wrong direction

[511Flyer]

MARTLET?? It has wings and flies. It's a bird, and was also an aircraft.

Break "ALTIMETER" into bits, and use 7 of those letters.

On the other hand ........

D.

[DaveB]

I like your train of thought Dennis

ATB
DaveB

[PeteP]

Hmmm... as a regular doer and occasional completer of the Telegraph cryptic crossword I was drawn to this.

'Broken' suggests an anagram and 'bits' suggests that only some of the following letters are used in the anagram. 'Ah, altimeter' are the words that provide the letters for the new word but only 7 of the 11 available are to be used to produce a word that has both wings and flies. A little fiddling with the letters reveals THEATRE (or THEATER for septics on the forum) which is a thing that has both 'wings' (the edge of the stage) and 'flies' (which is the space over the stage that holds the curtains etc).

So, my answer is Theatre.

Pete