Crossword Genius

Deer beginning to help faculty (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

harts

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'deer' is the definition.
(I know this)

'beginning to help faculty' is the wordplay.
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
'faculty' becomes 'arts' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The initial letter of 'help' is 'h'.
'h'+'arts'='HARTS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for harts that I've seen is " Red deer".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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