Crossword Genius

Early doter on man was spotty (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dotted

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'spotty' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'early doter on man' is the wordplay.
'early doter' becomes 'dot' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'man' becomes 'ted' (Ted is a man's name).
'dot'+'ted'='DOTTED'

'was' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dotted that I've seen before include "Sign on this line to authorise" , "Marked with small spots" , "I may be" , "Having a pattern of small round marks" , "Covered with spots" .)

I've seen this clue in The Mirror.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app