Crossword Genius

Crafty woman, woman heading off soldier leading other soldiers to ship (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

enchantress

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'crafty woman woman heading off' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'leading other soldiers to ship' is the wordplay.
'leading other' becomes 'enchant' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'to ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'enchant'+'re'+'ss'='ENCHANTRESS'

'soldier' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for enchantress that I've seen before include "Seducer" , "Female magician" , "One casting spells" , "Circe, for example" , "Siren" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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