Crossword Genius

Drug a violent criminal for advancement (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

elevation

'advancement' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'drug a violent criminal' is the wordplay.
'drug' becomes 'e' (e is another name for ecstasy).
'criminal' is an anagram indicator.
'a'+'violent'='aviolent'
'aviolent' is an anagram of 'levation'.
'e'+'levation'='ELEVATION'

'for' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for elevation that I've seen before include "Side of a building; height" , "Architectural drawing" , "Height - promotion" , "Drawing of the external face of a building" , "Height above a given level" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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