Crossword Genius

Poet nursing curious aim to be pub employee (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

barmaid

'be pub employee' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'poet nursing curious aim' is the wordplay.
'poet' becomes 'bard' (bard is a kind of poet).
'nursing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'curious' indicates anagramming the letters.
'aim' anagrammed gives 'mai'.
'bard' enclosing 'mai' is 'BARMAID'.

'to' is the link.

(Other definitions for barmaid that I've seen before include "Pub girl" , "serving lady" , "Female serving drinks" , "Local girl" , "attendant" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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