Crossword Genius

Experienced kind of doctor managed without drug (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

veteran

'experienced' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'kind of doctor managed without drug' is the wordplay.
'kind of doctor' becomes 'vet'.
'managed' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this before).
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'drug' becomes 'e' (e is another name for ecstasy).
'vet'+'ran'='vetran'
'vetran' enclosing 'e' is 'VETERAN'.

(Other definitions for veteran that I've seen before include "he's seen a lot of service" , "Describing a pre-1905 car (or pre-1919 at a pinch?)" , "Old serving man" , "Old hand, ex-service person" , "Ex-member of the armed forces" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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