Crossword Genius

Assiduous old man in street meeting a top man (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

painstaking

'assiduous' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'old man in street meeting a top man' is the subsidiary indication.
'old man' becomes 'pa' ('pa' can be a synonym of 'old man'**).
'street' becomes 'st'.
'meeting' says to put letters next to each other.
'top man' becomes 'king'.
'pa'+'in'+'st'+'a'+'king'='painstaking'

(Other definitions for painstaking that I've seen before include "using great care" , "Laboriously careful" , "Meticulous" , "Extremely careful" , "Assiduous, thorough" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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