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Day worker holds European qualification for starter (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

debutant

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'starter' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'day worker holds european qualification' is the wordplay.
'day' becomes 'd' (abbreviation for day).
'worker' becomes 'ant' (worker is a type of ant).
'holds' indicates putting letters inside.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'qualification' becomes 'but' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'd'+'ant'='dant'
'e'+'but'='ebut'
'dant' placed around 'ebut' is 'DEBUTANT'.

'for' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for debutant that I've seen before include "One making first appearance" , "Newcomer to team" , "Someone making their first appearance" , "Beginner, first-timer" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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