Crossword Genius

Eastern guru coming round very good on secret assignments? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

espionage

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'secret assignments?' is the definition.
(use of spies or secret agents)

'eastern guru coming round very good' is the wordplay.
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'guru' becomes 'sage' (synonyms).
'coming round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'very good' becomes 'pion' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sage' enclosing 'pion' is 'spionage'.
'e'+'spionage'='ESPIONAGE'

'on' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for espionage that I've seen before include "secret work" , "007's game" , "agent's job" , "intelligence" , "seeking information" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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