Crossword Genius

Woman making time to fill Christmas stocking? (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eve

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

'woman' is the definition.
(I know that Eve is a woman)

'time to fill christmas stocking?' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 'ret' (I've seen this in other clues).
'to fill' indicates the central letters (I've seen 'filling' mean this (the letters which fill the word)).
'christmas stocking?' becomes 've' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The centre of 'ret' is 'e'.
'e'+'ve'='EVE'

'making' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eve that I've seen before include "Later in the day, in short" , "One from Genesis" , "Woman of Eden" , "'All About - - ' (Bette Davis film)" , "Day before; girl's name" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.