Crossword Genius

Smoke starts to creep into half of garden (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cigar

'smoke' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'starts to creep into half of garden' is the wordplay.
'starts to' says to take the initial letters.
'half of' means to take half the letters.
The first letters of 'creep into' is 'ci'.
'garden' with half the letters taken is 'gar'.
'ci'+'gar'='CIGAR'

(Other definitions for cigar that I've seen before include "Big roll of tobacco" , "Rolled tobacco leaf for smoking" , "Close, but no ___ !" , "Item kept in a humidor" , "Cylinder of tobacco" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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