Crossword Genius

Act as mortgagee, one understands, without company (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lonesome

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'act as mortgagee one understands without company' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'as mortgagee one understands without company' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'as' could be 'so' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'so' is present in the answer.
'one' could be 'me' (a setter might use 'one' to humourously mean 'me') and 'me' is located in the answer.
'without company' could be 'lone' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'lone' is located 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 lonesome that I've seen before include "Isolated" , "Solitary (mainly US)" , "Solitary and sad" , "Are you -- tonight (Elvis)" , "Abandoned" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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