Crossword Genius

Does hot food, following starter of chicken (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cheats

'does' is the definition.
(do can mean to cheat or defraud)

'hot food following starter of chicken' is the wordplay.
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'food' becomes 'eats' (eats can mean food).
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'starter of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'chicken' is 'c'.
'h'+'eats'='heats'
'heats' put after 'c' is 'CHEATS'.

(Other definitions for cheats that I've seen before include "Swindles in chaste manner" , "Tricks or swindles" , "Deceives as in card game" , "Fixes" , "Chaste sort of swindlers" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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