Crossword Genius

Floosie put paper up to decorate spruce (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

maneater

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

'floosie put paper up to decorate' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'spruce' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'spruce' could be 'neat' (synonyms) and 'neat' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for maneater that I've seen before include "Tiger, say" , "Vamp" , "Highly-sexed, domineering woman" , "Voracious woman!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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