Crossword Genius

Fish eater digesting plaice at mid-morning (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pelican

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

'fish eater' is the definition.

'digesting plaice at mid-morning' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'plaice' is 'pelica' which is within the answer.
A single letter 'n' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pelican that I've seen before include "The large bird is in place" , "In place (anag.)" , "Large water bird" , "Seabird having a large bill with a pouch for fish" , "Large bird with pouch in bill for storing fish" .)

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