Crossword Genius

Close to border, leaving body in bushes (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

copse

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

'in bushes' is the definition.
'copse' can be an answer for 'bushes' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'in' bit.

'close to border leaving body' is the wordplay.
'close to' becomes 'cop' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'border' means to remove the middle letters (I've seen 'borders of' mean this).
'leaving body' becomes 'service' (I've seen this before).
'service' with its middle taken out is 'se'.
'cop'+'se'='COPSE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for copse that I've seen before include "Scope for a small wood" , "Wood - thicket" , "spinney" , "Dense growth of shrubs or trees" , "Dense thicket of trees" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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