Crossword Genius

Anointed one showed the way starting with love (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

oiled

'anointed' is the definition.
('oil' can be a synonym of 'anoint')

'one showed the way starting with love' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'showed the way' becomes 'led' (I've seen this before).
'starting with' says to put letters next to each other.
'love' becomes 'o' (In tennis, 'love' means 'zero').
'i'+'led'='iled'
'iled' put after 'o' is 'OILED'.

(Other definitions for oiled that I've seen before include "Greased; drunk" , "as silk may be" , "wasted" , "running smoothly?" , "tipsy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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