Cry of joy, embracing willing lover (5)

I believe the answer is:

honey

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'lover' is the definition.
(I know that honey is a type of lover)

'cry of joy embracing willing' is the wordplay.
'cry of joy' becomes 'hey' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'willing' becomes 'on' (I've seen this in other clues).
'hey' going around 'on' is 'HONEY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for honey that I've seen before include "Excellent; magnificent" , "Nectar product" , "Darling; hive product" , "sweet thing" , "Love" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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