Crossword Genius

Person not free to start freshening up (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

serf

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'person' is the definition.
The answer is an example.

'not free to start freshening up' is the wordplay.
'not' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'to start' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'starts' mean this).
'freshening up' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'freshened up' mean this (a fresh order for the letters)).
'free' with its last letter removed is 'fre'.
'fre' is an anagram of 'erf'.
's'+'erf'='SERF'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for serf that I've seen before include "Person required to work for a lord" , "One bound to the land" , "Worker bound" , "Person bound to the land and owned by a feudal lord" , "Thrall" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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