Crossword Genius

Dance as mainly trained (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

quadrille

'dance' is the definition.
(quadrille is a kind of dance)

'as mainly trained' is the wordplay.
'as' becomes 'qua' (I've seen this before).
'mainly' means to remove the last letter.
'trained' becomes 'drilled' (drilling is a kind of training).
'drilled' with its final letter removed is 'drille'.
'qua'+'drille'='QUADRILLE'

(Other definitions for quadrille that I've seen before include "(Music for a) square dance for four or more couples" , "Old square dance (performed by lobsters in Alice in Wonderland)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app