Crossword Genius

Surrealist needing energy for a retail outlet (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

deli

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'for a retail outlet' is the definition.
(delicatessen)

'surrealist needing energy' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'energy' could be 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2) and 'e' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dli' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for deli that I've seen before include "Specialised food shop" , "Unusual food shop" , "Specialist foodshop(abbr.)" , "Fine food shop" , "Fine foods shop" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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