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Father and son put on payroll in Bow (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sire

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'father' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'son put on payroll in bow' is the wordplay.
'son' becomes 's'.
'put on payroll in bow' becomes 'ire' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
's'+'ire'='SIRE'

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sire that I've seen before include "Rise for male parent (4)." , "Make children" , "Stallion; beget" , "Male parent of, say, horse" , "Male parent of an animal" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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