The Stickler Weekly 128 Solution

A few weeks back I was looking through a local crossword and came across this clue: Dawn is grieving without you (7) (SMH 18/4 by LR)
I was taken back instantly to my early cluing days where I didn’t realise (why, I don’t know, as I’d never seen such cluing in any decent publication) an appropriate homophone indicator was needed to convert YOU to U. It’s common practice in cryptics designed for the entry-level or non-cryptic solver, as rules don’t seem to matter so much, since providing solvers with an easy path to the answer is more important than building a set of cryptic-solving tools than can be applied to all cryptics.
Many will be aware that The Chambers English Dictionary is seen as the crossworder’s bible, largely due to its comprehensive coverage and concise definitions that often contain synonyms (great for setting and solving). It carries baggage though, due to its heritage, and has a bad habit of including words and definitions that no other references have. These aren’t so good, as such inclusions need to confirmed elsewhere before using them as answers or in clues. When I first started cluing “it’s in Chambers” was my catchcry (along with many other setters), and I’m sure this frustrated lots of solvers who felt one-off words or definitions gave them little chance of deriving or finding answers. The Chambers English Dictionary is one of the few to actually spell out SOME letters of the alphabet, and so these spellings were considered fair game in the early days for me. Some letters are spelt out usually to represent their shape, like “DEE” for “D” or “ESS” for “S”, but for the most part letters aren’t spelt despite their inclusion in some dictionaries. (Chambers also spells “C” as “CEE” and “SEE” – how confusing). Even in Chambers there’s no spelling of “U”, so is there any case where an unindicated “YOU” can equal “U”?
Here’s where it gets interesting: communicating via a mobile phone or posting in Twitter has generated an abbreviated language that certain sections of society, and particularly younger age-groups, see as “normal” and at least equivalent to long-form language. Terms have materialised (like BTW, IMO, LOL, FAQ and FYI) that have been used enough to be accepted into dictionaries and turn up in everyday language, especially written language. On the whole, though, apart from some of these “new terms”, there’s a contextual issue that has to be recognised, and a general usage issue that has to be considered. U = YOU is not uncommon in abbreviated text-speak, but it’s rarely seen outside that realm, so how acceptable is the reverse (YOU = U) in a cryptic crossword clue? I would imagine most of the cryptic-solving fraternity are not aware of this link (assuming that’s what the setter is relying on here) and would simply consider YOU = U without a homophonic indicator as just poor form. So, what’s the verdict, Stickler solvers?

PS. It seems I stumped a few with 2-down’s cryptic definition. They are always troublesome.