Crossword Genius

An opening for trainee soldier (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ant

'soldier' is the definition.
(soldier ant is a type of ant)

'an opening for trainee' is the wordplay.
'opening for' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'trainee' is 't'.
'an'+'t'='ANT'

(Other definitions for ant that I've seen before include "One more provident than Grasshopper" , "Emmet or pismire" , "A soldier, for one" , "The insect lives in a social colony" , "Industrious insect" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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