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First of cigars and old male appeals for matches (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

competitions

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'matches' is the definition.
(sporting competitions)

'first of cigars and old male appeals' is the wordplay.
'first of cigars' becomes 'c' (ost letter of 'cigars').
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'old male' becomes 'om' (this might be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'appeals' becomes 'petitions' (I've seen this in another clue).
'c'+'om'+'petitions'='COMPETITIONS'

'for' acts as a link.

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I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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