Crossword Genius

A parrot flying around extremely lethargic panda? (6,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

patrol car

'panda?' is the definition.
(term for a police patrol car)

'a parrot flying around extremely lethargic' is the wordplay.
'flying' is an anagram indicator (letters fly around into new positions).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the extremes of the word are used).
'lethargic' with its middle removed is 'lc'.
'a'+'parrot'='aparrot'
'aparrot' is an anagram of 'patroar'.
'patroar' placed around 'lc' is 'PATROL CAR'.

(Other definitions for patrol car that I've seen before include "Panda, maybe" , "Police vehicle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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