Crossword Genius

Call round for old and new pal (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

crony

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

'pal' is the definition.
(I know that pal can be written as crony)

'call round for old and new' is the wordplay.
'call' becomes 'cry' (as in a bird's call).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'for old' becomes 'o' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'o'+'n'='on'
'cry' enclosing 'on' is 'CRONY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for crony that I've seen before include "Corny (anag.)" , "Close companion" , "Sidekick" , "Close friend" , "mate" .)

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