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Aircraft varnish — work into wings of drone (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dope

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'aircraft varnish' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'work into wings of drone' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (short for opus).
'into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'wings of' means to remove the middle letters (letters on the two wings removed).
'drone' with its centre removed is 'de'.
'op' put within 'de' is 'DOPE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dope that I've seen before include "cheat thereat?" , "Fool - cannabis" , "Informal drug or stupid person" , "Informally, drug or silly person" , "Dolt -- drug" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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