Crossword Genius

A tense "Hand it over" (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

present

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a tense' is the definition.
(I know that present is a type of tense)

'hand it over' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'hand' could be 'r' (abbreviation for right, as in the right-hand side) and 'r' is located in the answer.
'it' could be 't' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis) and 't' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for present that I've seen before include "Serpent (anag.)" , "able to be registered" , "Exhibit" , "Current" , "Introduce formally" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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