Crossword Genius

Beg pardon: soldier in a game's on methamphetamine? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

apologise

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'beg pardon' is the definition.
('beg pardon'->'apologize' is in my internal thesaurus and 'ize'->'ise')

'soldier in a game's on methamphetamine?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'soldier' could be 'gi' (GI can mean a US soldier) and 'gi' is located in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'game's' could be 'polos' (polo is a kind of game) and 'polos' is located in the leftover letters.
A single letter 'e' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for apologise that I've seen before include "Say sorry, my mistake" , "Express regret for a wrong (S, not Z)" , "Show regret" , "Say sorry, mea culpa" , "put things straight" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app