Crossword Genius

Perhaps man with heart. as you might say, getting girlfriend? (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chordate

'perhaps man' is the definition.
(humanity belongs to the phylum Chordata)

'with heart as you might say getting girlfriend?' is the wordplay.
'with' is an insertion indicator.
'heart' becomes 'h' (card game abbreviation).
'as you might say' becomes 'cor' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'girlfriend?' becomes 'date' (I've seen this in other clues).
'h' going within 'cor' is 'chor'.
'chor'+'date'='CHORDATE'

(Other definitions for chordate that I've seen before include "bone" , "I have backbone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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