Crossword Genius

Piece of writing for the Standard, say? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

essay

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

'piece of writing' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'standard say?' is the wordplay.
'standard' becomes 'es' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'es'+'say'='ESSAY'

'for the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for essay that I've seen before include "Endeavour" , "Old experiment" , "Try; a piece of writing" , "Short formal piece of writing" , "Scholarly work" .)

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