A sign Alec's tinkered with opiate maybe (9)

I believe the answer is:

analgesic

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'opiate maybe' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'a sign alec's tinkered with' is the wordplay.
'tinkered with' indicates anagramming the letters.
'sign'+'alec'='signalec'
'signalec' anagrammed gives 'nalgesic'.
'a'+'nalgesic'='ANALGESIC'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for analgesic that I've seen before include "A medicine used to relieve pain" , "Pain reliever" , "Acting to relieve pain" , "Relieving pain" , "medicament" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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