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Alarmed Air Force with rapid surprise attack (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

afraid

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'alarmed' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'air force with rapid surprise attack' is the wordplay.
'air force' becomes 'af' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rapid surprise attack' becomes 'raid' (I've seen this before).
'af'+'raid'='AFRAID'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for afraid that I've seen before include "feeling scared" , "Nervous" , "Feeling anxiety or fear" , "Filled with fear" , "Fearful and timid" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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