Abbreviated surgical procedures after large cuts (4)
I believe the answer is:
lops
'cuts' is the definition.
(lopping is a kind of cutting)
'abbreviated surgical procedures after large' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'procedures' could be 'ops' (I've seen this before) and 'ops' is found within the answer.
'large' could be 'l' (eg in clothes sizes) and 'l' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lops that I've seen before include "Prunes" , "Docks" , "Cuts off, say branches or twigs" .)