Figure duck disturbed cat and left shortly (7)

I believe the answer is:

octagon

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'figure' is the definition.
(type of geometrical figure)

'duck disturbed cat and left shortly' is the wordplay.
'duck' becomes 'o' (resembles zero - 'duck' in cricket).
'disturbed cat' becomes 'cta' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'left' becomes 'gone' (go can mean to leave).
'shortly' means to remove the last letter.
'gone' with its final letter taken off is 'gon'.
'o'+'cta'+'gon'='OCTAGON'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for octagon that I've seen before include "Geometric figure with eight sides" , "Eight sided figure" , "Figure with 8 sides" , "An eight-sided polygon" , "Eight-sided room" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Telegraph.

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