Crossword Genius

Look after chief, popular with army (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

maintain

'look after' is the definition.
(maintaining is a kind of looking after)

'chief popular with army' is the wordplay.
'chief' becomes 'main' (I've seen this before**).
'popular' becomes 'in'.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'army' becomes 'ta' (abbreviation for Territorial Army).
'in' put after 'ta' is 'tain'.
'main'+'tain'='MAINTAIN'

(Other definitions for maintain that I've seen before include "finance" , "Keep in a good state of repair" , "declare" , "Preserve or insist" , "Look after the upkeep" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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