Crossword Genius

Endless respect little man gives senior officer (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

admiral

'senior officer' is the definition.

'endless respect little man' is the wordplay.
'endless' means to remove the last letter.
'respect' becomes 'admire' (admiring is a kind of respecting).
'little man' becomes 'al' (short for Alex, Alastair etc**).
'admire' with its last letter taken off is 'admir'.
'admir'+'al'='ADMIRAL'

'gives' is the link.

(Other definitions for admiral that I've seen before include "Red butterfly at sea?" , "Chief commander of fleet" , "[NELSON] perhaps" , "(White or red) butterfly" , "Red butterfly in charge of the fleet" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sun.
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