Creep unsteadily, half dead, yet still come first (7)

I believe the answer is:

precede

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'come first' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'creep unsteadily half dead' is the wordplay.
'unsteadily' indicates anagramming the letters.
'half' indicates taking half.
'dead' halved is 'de'.
'creep' is an anagram of 'prece'.
'prece'+'de'='PRECEDE'

'yet still' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

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(Other definitions for precede that I've seen before include "Occur before" , "Antedate" , "Come or go before" , "Come before (something)" , "Go before (someone)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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