Crossword Genius

Briefly put off by court notice (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

detect

'notice' is the definition.
(I know that notice can be written as detect)

'briefly put off by court' is the wordplay.
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'put off' becomes 'deter' (both can mean to discourage).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'deter' with its last letter taken away is 'dete'.
'dete'+'ct'='DETECT'

(Other definitions for detect that I've seen before include "Observe, make out" , "Find out - notice" , "Discover, identify" , "Observe; notice" , "Do what Morse did" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.