Crossword Genius

Liberal politician swallowing beer? On the contrary (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ample

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'liberal' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'politician swallowing beer? on the contrary' is the wordplay.
'politician' becomes 'pm' (short for prime minister).
'swallowing beer?' becomes 'ela' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'on' means one lot of letters goes inside another (as in clothing 'on' a person).
'the contrary' says the letters should be written backwards.
'pm' inserted within 'ela' is 'elpma'.
'elpma' backwards is 'AMPLE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ample that I've seen before include "Plenty, more than enough" , "Generous" , "Spacious" , "Large, capacious" , "Liberal" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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