General secretary's funny idea (4)

I believe the answer is:

aide

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'general' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'secretary's funny idea' is the wordplay.
'idea' can be anagrammed to 'AIDE'.
But, I'm unsure how the anagram is indicated.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aide that I've seen before include "a help" , "auxiliary" , "Personal assistant in the military" , "One to assist" , "one helping" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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