Crossword Genius

Flustered soldier on time after a wild date (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

agitated

'flustered' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'soldier on time after a wild date' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'GI' (term for US soldier).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'wild' indicates an anagram.
'date' is an anagram of 'ated'.
'gi'+'t' is 'git'.
'git' after 'a' is 'agit'.
'agit'+'ated'='AGITATED'

(Other definitions for agitated that I've seen before include "Het up" , "Upset, disturbed" , "Worked up, flustered" , "Jittery, hyped up" , "Aroused - disturbed" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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