daily record

[nicolat87]

has anyone else notice recently some of the answers that have come up in the daily record that have nothing to do with the clue or does in an exaggerated way or is it just me??

[BilSuth]

Ambiguous answers here are common. I try to make a list of them for future reference, i.e. what the solution subsequently reveals as the "correct" answer.
It is sloppy compiling. If we can see two possible answers that fit, so should the
compiler and therefore make the clue more specific, e.g. hurts/harms, so why
not make one of them the clue and the other the answer??
One tip is lateral thinking. Solvers are looking for synonyms of CLUE to fit ANSWER, but the compiler has completed the grid words with ANSWER. So we should look
for synonyms of ANSWER. In other words, if there seems to be a choice of answers,
see which of them more commonly (using different dictionaries or wiki sources)
gives the clue word as a synonym. You have to try to work the wrong way round.