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Declare a new lockdown at the end to recover, after starting late (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

announce

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'declare' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'a new lockdown at the end to recover after starting late' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'at the end' indicates one should take the final letters.
'to recover' becomes 'ou' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' becomes 'once' (once can mean immediately after).
'starting late' means to remove the first letter (the word begins later than normal).
The last letter of 'lockdown' is 'n'.
'once' with its initial letter removed is 'nce'.
'a'+'n'+'n'+'ou'+'nce'='ANNOUNCE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for announce that I've seen before include "say" , "Reveal" , "Disclose" , "Tell everyone" , "Make public statement, proclaim" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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