Crossword Genius

Contrary eejit interrupts morning tea? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

assam

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

'tea?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'contrary eejit interrupts morning' is the wordplay.
'contrary' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'eejit' becomes 'ass' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'interrupts' is an insertion indicator.
'morning' becomes 'am' (as in as:00 AM).
'ass' backwards is 'ssa'.
'ssa' placed inside 'am' is 'ASSAM'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for assam that I've seen before include "place associated with tea" , "Indian state famous for tea" , "NE Indian state (tea)" , "Indian state known for tea growing" , "N East Indian state?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app