Crossword Genius

After time, order mints to smother large, large cocktail (3,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tom collins

'cocktail' is the definition.
(Tom Collins is a cocktail)

'after time order mints to smother large large' is the wordplay.
'after time order' becomes 'tom' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'mints' becomes 'coins' (to mint is to manufacture coins).
'to smother' means one lot of letters goes inside another (outside letters smother inside letters).
'large' becomes 'l'.
'large' becomes 'l'.
'l'+'l'='ll'
'coins' placed around 'll' is 'collins'.
'tom'+'collins'='TOM COLLINS'

(Other definitions for tom collins that I've seen before include "Long iced drink of gin, lemon juice and soda water" , "Gin-based cocktail" , "Cocktail using gin" , "Gin makes this" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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