Crossword Genius

Advise medicine before the secretary appears (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

prescribe

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'advise medicine' is the definition.
'prescribe' can be an answer for 'advise' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'medicine' bit.

'before the secretary appears' is the wordplay.
'before' becomes 'pre' (prefix meaning 'before').
'the secretary' becomes 'scribe' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'appears' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters appear after others).
'pre'+'scribe'='PRESCRIBE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for prescribe that I've seen before include "Lay" , "Order use of (medicine or other treatment)" , "as doctor may order" , "Advise use of (medicine)" , "Recommend as beneficial" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.
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