Café puts back five units regularly having narcotic effect (12)
I believe the answer is:
stupefacient
'having narcotic effect' is the definition.
(stupefacient means causing loss of consciousness)
'cafe puts back five units regularly' is the wordplay.
'back' is a reversal indicator.
'regularly' indicates alternate letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'five'+'units'='fiveunits'
The alternate letters of 'fiveunits' are 'ient'.
'cafe'+'puts'='cafeputs'
'cafeputs' back-to-front is 'stupefac'.
'stupefac'+'ient'='STUPEFACIENT'
I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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