Crossword Genius

Clueless as officer joined up after finishing with woman (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

confused

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

'clueless' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'after finishing with woman' is the wordplay.
'after finishing' becomes 'fused' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'woman' becomes 'con'.
'fused' after 'con' is 'CONFUSED'.

'as officer joined up' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for confused that I've seen before include "Disorientated" , "In a muddle, perplexed" , "Mixed up in fun codes" , "Unable to think clearly, bewildered" , "Bewildered, perplexed" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times (Crosaire) and the Irish Times.
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