Crossword Genius

Crucial to work with patron at mill (3-9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

all-important

'crucial' is the definition.
(I know that crucial can be written as all-important)

'work with patron at mill' is the wordplay.
'work with' indicates anagramming the letters.
'patron'+'at'+'mill'='patronatmill'
'patronatmill' is an anagram of 'ALL-IMPORTANT'.

'to' is the link.

(Another definition for all-important that I've seen is " Essential, crucial".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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