Your old dear is like Herb (5)
I believe the answer is:
thymy
'your old dear is like herb' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'your old dear is like' is the wordplay.
'your' becomes 'thy' ('thy' historically meant 'your').
'old dear' becomes 'm' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'is like' becomes 'y' (similar in meaning).
'thy'+'m'+'y'='THYMY'
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in The Times.
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