Crossword Genius

Employed top man at Washington Post ? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

used

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

'employed' is the definition.
('use' can be a synonym of 'employ')

'top man at washington post ?' is the wordplay.
'top' means to remove the first letter.
'man' becomes 'ned'.
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'washington post ?' becomes 'us' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ned' with its initial letter taken away is 'ed'.
'ed' put after 'us' is 'USED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for used that I've seen before include "Brought into service" , "Put to a purpose" , "Took advantage of" , "No longer new" , "took a chance on becoming dependent" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.