Drunken purser is disposed to stagger (8)

I believe the answer is:

surprise

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'to stagger' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'drunken purser is' is the wordplay.
'drunken' indicates an anagram.
'purser'+'is'='purseris'
'purseris' is an anagram of 'SURPRISE'.

'disposed' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

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(Other definitions for surprise that I've seen before include "Sudden astounding event" , "Shock" , "Startle, astonish" , "Sudden unexpected event" , "Unexpected occurrence" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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