Crossword Genius

Former queen and working mother (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

quondam

'former' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'queen and working mother' is the wordplay.
'queen' becomes 'qu' (abbreviation for queen).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'working' becomes 'on' (on can mean working or activated).
'mother' becomes 'dam' (female parent of an animal).
'qu'+'on'+'dam'='QUONDAM'

(Other definitions for quondam that I've seen before include "Former (Latin) - man quod (anag)" , "Erstwhile" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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