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 really see how this works, but
'procedures' could be 'ops' (I've seen this before) and 'ops' is found in the answer.
'large' could be 'l' (eg in clothes sizes) and 'l' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
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" .)