Crossword Genius

Police trainee detective on vacation given whip round (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cadet

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

'detective on vacation given whip round' is the wordplay.
'on vacation' means to remove the middle letters (after the inside letters have vacated the word).
'given whip' becomes 'cat' (cat o' nine tails, cat for short is a type of whip. I am not sure about the 'given' bit.).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'detective' with its middle taken out is 'de'.
'de' going into 'cat' is 'CADET'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cadet that I've seen before include "Armed services trainee" , "Military trainee officer" , "Junior officer; younger brother" , "officer of the future" , "Military student" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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