Crossword Genius

Business woman embracing virtuous person’s steadiness (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

constancy

'steadiness' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'business woman embracing virtuous person's' is the wordplay.
'business' becomes 'co'.
'woman' becomes 'nancy' (**).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'virtuous person' becomes 'st' (saint).
'nancy' placed around 'st' is 'nstancy'.
'co'+'nstancy'='CONSTANCY'

(Other definitions for constancy that I've seen before include "Unvarying faithfulness" , "Lack of change" , "Faithfulness and dependability" , "The quality of being faithful and dependable" , "Firmness - faithfulness" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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