Crossword Genius

Custodians or cooks pinching a case of red (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stewards

'custodians' is the definition.
('steward' can be a synonym of 'custodian')

'cooks pinching a case of red' is the wordplay.
'cooks' becomes 'stews' (stewing is a kind of cooking**).
'pinching' means one lot of letters goes inside another (taking inside).
'case of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (outsides of).
'red' with its centre taken out is 'rd'.
'a'+'rd'='ard'
'stews' going around 'ard' is 'STEWARDS'.

'or' is the link.

(Other definitions for stewards that I've seen before include "They look after passengers on aircraft and ships" , "Officials at events" , "Custodians" , "Racing authorities" , "Officials who manage race meetings" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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