Crossword Genius

Stuck-up worker maybe packs eastern dress for empress (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tsarina

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

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

'stuck-up worker maybe packs eastern dress' is the wordplay.
'stuck up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'worker maybe' becomes 'ant' (worker is a type of ant).
'packs' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are packed inside).
'eastern dress' becomes 'sari' (sari is a kind of dress. I am not sure about the 'eastern' bit.).
'ant' backwards is 'tna'.
'tna' going around 'sari' is 'TSARINA'.

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tsarina that I've seen before include "companion of emperor" , "Catherine, say" , "Russian empress (S, not Z)" , "Nicholas's wife" , "Foreign ruler" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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