Thin coat secretary can pad in the middle (6)

I believe the answer is:

patina

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'thin coat' is the definition.
'patina' can be an answer for 'coat' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'thin' bit.

'secretary can pad in the middle' is the wordplay.
'secretary' becomes 'PA' (abbreviation for personal assistant).
'can' becomes 'tin' (both are metal containers).
'in the middle' means to look at the middle letters.
The central letter of 'pad' is 'a'.
'pa'+'tin'+'a'='PATINA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for patina that I've seen before include "Sheen produced by age and polishing" , "A surface gloss produced by age" , "Fine coating on surface" , "Film forming on bronze" , "Film on copper or bronze" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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